A Kingdom of Believers

Well, we started our morning in a really appropriate way based on what we're gonna be teaching about today.

And I promise this was not something I lined up because of the calendar.

We started with with baby dedications, and uh many of you weren't here for that.

Like it's okay.

We're not a church where the majority of us show up on the dot at 10.

It's fine.

You're getting coffee, whatever.

Baby dedications were awesome this morning, though.

Uh both of the kids, amazing kids.

We also had like one his hands celebrity on stage this morning.

You may not know this, but Isaiah, one of the babies we prayed for today, he just so happened to play Jesus last year in the short film that we made.

Um, I think we have a picture of that, but last year we did this short film, and uh, yeah, there you go, right?

That was Mary.

And some of you remember that?

That was Isaiah.

He was baby Jesus, and then we we dedicated him on stage today.

Aw.

That's so cute.

Little just trick of the trade.

If you begin with pictures of babies, it just gets everybody in a really good place.

Everyone goes, aww, and now I've got you.

No, I'm just joking.

Um, it was so appropriate that we had baby dedications today because the story that we're gonna look at to kick us off in our discussion happens to involve Jesus blessing very small children and some things that he teaches us about himself and about his kingdom, using children as this wonderful example.

We see this in Mark chapter 10.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

It says, One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so that he could touch and bless them.

But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.

When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples.

He said to them, Let the children come to me, do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.

I tell you the truth.

Anyone who doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.

And then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

That was already in my notes to teach on this morning before I realized it was a baby dedication day, so I thought that was really cool, how the Lord lines things up like that.

Jesus uses children in this moment to teach us something about his kingdom, something that we need to learn.

And I don't know how many of you have children.

I know all of us have been children, so no matter what, you have experience with this.

You know, there are things that children are not good at.

I don't know if you know this.

There are things children are terrible at.

Like, let's look at a few.

Time management.

Children do not have any time management abilities.

Those of you with lots of kids, multiple kids, maybe just one kid, know how much intense focus it takes to get them dressed, to get them to eat their breakfast, to get them in the car, right?

And to get them in the car with all of their clothes on, in the car with shoes on.

Our three youngest have to be on the bus every morning at 7 o'clock to go to school.

It's early.

And so we get them up.

And Megan's getting one dressed and helping that all out.

She's making lunches, I'm getting the boys dressed and all this stuff.

And then we sit them down, and we've got 15, 20 minutes before the bus comes, and we're like, all right, basically, I have to stand behind them and just tell them, pick up your food, put it in your mouth, take a bite, chew it, put it down, pick up the next bite, go.

Come on, guys, let's go.

Because if we don't do that, they just sort of zone out and the bus is there and they don't have clothes on, and it's it's no time management skills.

Kids are not good at that.

There's lots of things kids aren't good at.

Kids are terrible at like keeping track of their stuff.

This is a true story.

This happened two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago after church on Sunday, we have a little tradition in our family.

We always go out to eat.

It's like our Sunday after church thing.

We go grab a bite as a family, and Megan gets frustrated with me because I'm I'm at this age now where every time I pay for a meal, I look at her and go, Can you believe it cost this much money for us?

And she's like, Would you stop?

I get it, inflation.

I just it just blows me away.

Whatever.

So I do that.

We eat.

A couple weeks ago, we we have our meal, I complain about the price, we go home.

And then uh Megan wanted to make a quick pit stop, and Eli, our youngest, said he needed to use the restroom.

But as I was about to take him out of the car to take him in, I noticed he's only wearing one shoe.

And I was like, Eli, where's your other shoe?

And he just went, Oh, I left it at the restaurant.

And I was like, you know, I'm like, what do you mean?

He's like, I took it off and left it under the table at the restaurant.

And so I hadn't noticed as he walked to the car from the restaurant that he was wearing one shoe.

So I called the restaurant and I said, Hey, this may sound strange, but uh I think my my youngest left a shoe under our table.

And it was such a weird interaction because this lady, she says, Well, can you describe it?

And I'm thinking, how many shoes?

Is this a common occurrence?

Maybe it's maybe I'm not the only one, maybe that gives me hope as a dad.

She asked me to describe the shoe.

And I was like, Well, it's it's black, it's got like some white and gold accents on it, it's a Nike shoe, I think.

And she goes, Yep, we've got it.

I'm like, cool.

I said, Well, I'm gonna probably not be in to get it until maybe Monday, tomorrow, the day after.

Um, can you guys keep it there?

She says she says, yeah.

And this true story, she's do you want like a code word for when you come in?

And again, I'm thinking, like, how many shoes do you have?

That me, you and I need a special code word so you know not to give me the wrong shoe.

I don't know what scenario we're dealing with here.

So I was like, I'll just say I need a shoe, and that'll be the that's our code.

And so, you know, came in and got it.

But but our kids, they do stuff like that.

They just lose things, they can't keep track of their stuff.

I mean, how many times do you have children who have something in their hand and then it's just gone and it's of utmost importance that it's found, but they have no idea where they left it.

That happens all the time.

Kids are bad at that.

Kids are bad at finding things.

Have you ever sent a child to find something?

And let's even go deeper.

How many of us remember this scenario as kids?

Because I remember this clearly.

Like, my dad would tell me, go to the garage and get me this tool.

And I would get so nervous because I know I'm not gonna find it.

And it always happened the same way.

Like, you would go, you would look where your dad told you to look, you would search, you would look at every surface.

It's not there.

You would go, you would tell your dad, I can't find it.

And he's like, I told you exactly where it is.

You're like, Dad, I promise it's not there.

And then he goes, and it's exactly where he told you that it was, and you're looking at it like, Dad, I don't know what's going on, but I promise it was not there.

I looked.

It's like, does anyone else remember that experience?

Yes.

Yeah, so it, and now that I have kids, it's just a kid thing.

Like their brain cannot see whatever they're supposed to find, even though it might be staring them right in the face.

There are so many things that kids are not good at, but then there are other things that they are amazing at.

A few of which are deeply connected into what we're talking about today and connected to what Jesus tells us we have to learn to be people who can truly be part of his kingdom.

Children are amazing at receiving.

They are so good at receiving.

Like we as adults do funny things.

Someone might offer you something that's genuinely good, like it's a dessert.

It's, you know, someone might even offer to pay for your meal or something like that, and you go, No.

I can't receive that.

That is something no child will ever do.

Right?

There's no child in the world where you say, Would you like a cookie?

and they're like, No, I would not.

They're really good at receiving.

They can recognize that this is a good thing, and I would be foolish not to take it.

Kids are wonderful at receiving love, at receiving attention, at receiving gifts.

They're great receptors.

And Jesus says that we're supposed to receive the kingdom.

Children are also amazing at belief.

They are natural believers.

I have a memory of my oldest telling me that this one kid that rode the bus with him, the kid that lived in our neighborhood, this kid told my son that he, not his parents, that he had a million dollars in the first grade.

And my son just brought it up.

He said, Hey, dad, Alejandro says he has a million dollars.

And I was like, Well, that's not true.

And he looked at me like, yeah, it is.

He told me.

That was all he needed.

First grade, Alejandro, I have a million dollars.

Liam, sounds sounds plausible to me, you know.

And Liam like defended his friend.

He's like, Dad, he would never lie about something like that.

And I'm like, all right, fine.

Alejandro is loaded.

So, you know, whatever.

Why is he always coming to our house then?

Why is that the way it is?

You know, why is that how things were?

You should go there every once in a while.

Eat their snacks, whatever.

Um he just believed him.

Why?

Because children, they get belief.

They are wonderful at receiving and they are wonderful at believing.

And these two things we're gonna find this morning are deeply connected and deeply essential when it comes to us being part of the kingdom of God.

Now, for context, let me explain in case you're here for the first time.

This entire year, we've been doing something called the whole story.

We are going through the entire story of the Bible bit by bit.

We've broken the whole story down into 14 different series.

We've just been making our way through them one by one.

And right now we are we are finishing up.

We are in the very last Sunday of a series called A Kingdom Come.

A Kingdom Come.

We are looking at the teachings of Jesus.

As Jesus followers, we've got to be very familiar with what Jesus did, but we have to be equally familiar with what he said, with what he taught.

Because it's what he says that helps us understand the meaning and the impact of the things that he did and the things that he does.

And if you wanted to find one through line, one connective thread that helps you understand what the teachings of Jesus are all about, it would be the concept of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is always talking about the kingdom.

For example, Matthew chapter 4 gives us a few of these.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Early in his ministry, it says in verse 17, Jesus began to preach, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Matthew 4 23, Jesus traveled through the region of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the good news about what?

About the kingdom.

And as you keep reading Jesus, and I encourage you to do that, like read him, study him, you find that he's always talking about the kingdom.

What it's like, who it's for, what it's about.

He uses all kinds of illustrations.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, the kingdom of heaven is like a man going on a journey.

The kingdom of heaven is this, the kingdom of heaven is that.

What is it all about?

The first Sunday was about the fact that we have a tendency when we think about the kingdom of heaven to picture some far-off reality.

You know, it's it's after we die and we're in heaven, and it is that, but it's not it's not something that we have to wait to experience because Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is here, it is now, it is happening, that we are all part of that kingdom.

A kingdom is not so much about space, it's about authority.

Wherever the authority of a king is recognized and followed, that is the kingdom.

And if we live our lives under the authority of God, submitting to him and committing our lives to do what he says, to doing his will in our lives, just as it's done in heaven, we are living as part of the kingdom.

Last Sunday we explored the values of the kingdom.

And we looked at the fact that the kingdom of God operates very differently than the kingdoms of this world.

It is an upside-down kingdom.

Jesus said that the first are the last.

He said that the greatest among us is the servant.

It's not the way that the world works.

And if we're going to live as part of God's kingdom, we have to have very upside down values compared to the values of this world.

But I think we can all recognize to some degree that the values of this world happen to be upside down.

And so Jesus is asking us to live upside down of upside down, which just so happens to be right side up, so it's a good thing.

So last week it was the values of the kingdom, and today is all about how do we receive it?

How do we experience it?

How do we step into it, maybe for the first time, or how do we step into it on a daily basis for those of us who have already given our lives to Jesus?

How do we receive the kingdom?

I've been thinking about that all week long.

It's a really interesting idea, receiving the kingdom.

That's what Jesus said.

That anyone who wants to be part of God's kingdom, who wants to enter it, must receive it like a child.

I would never typically describe the kingdom of God as something that you can receive.

I might describe it as something you can enter, as something you can experience, as something you can become a part of, but receive, that's just not the language that I would naturally use to describe something like the kingdom of God.

But that's what Jesus says.

Receive the kingdom.

So I was thinking about that, well, how can you receive a kingdom?

And the only way I can think of that you could receive a kingdom is if you well, if you inherit a kingdom.

It's the only way you can receive a kingdom.

You have to be someone who inherits it.

And the only way to inherit a kingdom is to be a child who has a very important father or mother, and you're in line to receive that.

And that actually tracks with Scripture.

Romans chapter 8, verses verses 15 through 17 say that we have not received a spirit that makes us fearful slaves.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him Abba Father, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.

And since we are his children, we are his heirs.

In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory.

But if we're to share in his glory, we must also share his suffering, meaning we just can't pick and choose the parts of God that we'd like to experience.

But it says that we become God's children, and if we're his children, we are his heirs.

We set to inherit the kingdom of God.

How do we become children?

Like, if the only way to receive a kingdom is to inherit it, and the only way to inherit a kingdom is to be the child of a king, well then how do we become children of God?

It's important that we know this, and Jesus happens to teach us this.

In John chapter 3, Jesus has this unbelievable interaction with a man named Nicodemus.

John 3 · chapter mention

Nicodemus is a Pharisee, he's one of the top-ranking religious leaders in his land.

And we happen to have this incredibly recorded conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus.

I believe it's perhaps the most important conversation that has ever happened in history because we learn so much about what it means to follow Jesus in this one conversation.

You can almost build your entire sort of theology as far as experiencing Jesus and following Jesus and what that looks like at the outset just based on this one conversation.

And so I just want to read it in its entirety.

John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21.

John 3:1–21

And the question that we're seeking to ask is well, how do I become a child of God?

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.

And after dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.

Rabbi, he said, We all know that God has sent you to teach us.

Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.

And Jesus replied, I tell you the truth.

Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.

Ah, there we have something.

The only way to become a child is to be born.

And Jesus says that you must be born again.

What do you mean?

exclaimed Nicodemus.

How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?

And we all have Nicodemus to thank for that wonderful mental picture.

I'm glad he said that.

And Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.

Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it wants, just as you can hear the wind, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going.

So you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit.

How are these things possible, Nicodemus asked?

And Jesus replied, You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things?

I assure you.

We tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony.

But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe me if I tell you about heavenly things?

No one has ever gone to heaven and returned, but the Son of Man has come down from heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

For this is how God loved the world.

He gave his one and only son.

So that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.

God sent his son into the world, not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him.

But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son.

And the judgment is based on this fact God's light came into the world, but people love the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.

All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.

But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.

So Jesus says clearly, well, you have to be born again.

Makes sense, right?

To receive a kingdom, you have to have an inheritance.

To have an inheritance, you have to be the child of a king.

To be the child of a king, you have to be born as the child of a king.

And Jesus says that all of us have the opportunity to be just that, provided that we are born again.

And you go, well, what does that mean?

Like, what does it really mean?

Well, Jesus spells it out for us.

It means to believe, it means to be a believer, to be someone who believes in the Son.

It's as simple as that.

1 John chapter 5 begins by saying, everyone who believes that Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, has become a child of God.

1 John 5 · chapter mention

Let's read that again.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God.

And everyone who loves the Father loves his children too.

We know we love God's children if we love God and obey his commandments.

Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

And who can win this battle against the world?

Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Now, I don't know about you, like you ever hear something that's just too good to be true?

That's too simple.

Like you're telling me that I can become a child of God, that I can literally be a child of the king of the universe, that I can be an heir, a co-heir with Jesus according to Romans?

That it's just that sounds impossible to me.

And how do I do that?

Like, what hoops do I have to jump through to do that?

What gauntlet do I have to survive to be that?

Oh, the answer is that I simply have to believe.

I have to believe in Jesus.

I put my faith in Jesus now, boom, I'm a child of God, and that means that I'm an heir, and I, along with Jesus, am set to inherit the very glory of God, whatever that means.

It just sounds too simple.

At least to me, it sounds like, come on, that's what's the catch.

It's too easy, it's too simple, but that's the thing about God.

He loves simple things.

1 Corinthians chapter 1.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

After explaining the gospel, Paul writes, where does this leave the philosophers and the scholars and the world's brilliant debaters?

You know, there's always been this thing.

It existed in Paul's day, it exists in our day, where people who see themselves as highly intelligent want to make everything incredibly nuanced and complicated, when in reality some things are very simple and straightforward.

He says, God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.

Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.

It is foolishness to the Jews who ask for signs from heaven, and it's foolish to the Greeks who seek human wisdom.

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense.

It's just too simple, is what Paul's saying.

This idea that you just you believe, you put your faith in Jesus, boom, you're a child of God, you belong to him, it's come on.

That's too simple.

But God loves simple things, especially when it comes to faith.

If you read the scriptures, if you read the story of Jesus, if you read the things that he taught, the way that he reacted to people, if you continue reading as Paul and the other leaders of the early church begin to do their best to unpack what following Jesus really means, you find on page after page that faith, that belief matters greatly to God.

In Mark chapter 9, there's a man who brings his son to Jesus, and he's desperate, and he needs Jesus to heal his son.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

That's why he's there.

Jesus has a reputation for healing, and the man is honest, brutally honest, and he says, Jesus, if you can, please heal my son.

And Jesus responds in Mark chapter 9, what do you mean if I can?

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Anything is possible if a person believes.

That makes it sound like belief is pretty important.

Matthew chapter 17 tells us this story of the disciples struggling and failing to cast out a demon.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

And that may sound really strange to many of us, but one of the things that happened very commonly in the story of Jesus is people were arriving in front of Jesus and they were tormented by evil spirits.

That there was something inside of them, there was an evil that was more than just a sickness of the mind.

It was deeper than that.

And Jesus was able to free them.

And Jesus does it for them.

And afterwards it says in Matthew 17, the disciples asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we cast out the demon?

You don't have enough faith, Jesus told them.

You don't believe enough.

I tell you the truth.

If you had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it would move.

Nothing would be impossible.

Faith really matters.

In John chapter 11, verse 40, Jesus says, Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?

John 11:40

Romans 10, verses 3 through 5, they don't understand God's way of making people right with Himself.

Romans 10:3–5

Refusing to accept God's way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law, by trying to obey a lot of rules and do things in a way that they believe God would be happy with.

But then he goes on to say, but Christ, Jesus, he has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given.

As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God.

In Romans 4, it says, For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it.

The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break.

So the promise is received by faith.

It is given as a free gift.

And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham's.

For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

That is what the scriptures mean when God told them, I've made you the father of many nations.

This happened because Abraham believed in God, who brings the dead back to life and creates new things out of nothing.

We see time and time again, belief, faith.

This matters so much to God.

In fact, there's really only one example we have in the entire story of Jesus where he seems stuck.

Like he seems like he can't get past something.

Something's in his way and he just doesn't power through it.

It's a strange story.

It's in his own hometown in Mark chapter 6.

Mark 6 · chapter mention

He goes back to his hometown and his hometown people who should be like, we're amazed by you, and you're one of us.

This is incredible.

They're actually offended.

They're deeply offended.

It's like that same thing where if someone has someone from their high school class that becomes super successful, like they hate that person.

You know?

Because why you?

Why you?

That's the thought, but no one will ever say that.

They're mad about the fact that one of their own has become so so famous.

It says, because of that, they were deeply offended and they refused to what?

To believe in him.

And then Jesus told them a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.

And because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them, except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.

And he was amazed at their unbelief.

You know, there's only two times in Scripture where it tells us Jesus gets amazed.

One is there, he's amazed at how little faith people have.

The other is actually at a time when he's amazed at how much faith someone else has.

Someone who probably shouldn't have faith according to the customs of the people around him.

Here's the point if you haven't gotten it.

I know you have, because it's like very simple.

Faith matters, belief really matters.

Jesus says that we have to receive the kingdom as a child.

Children are really good at receiving, they're really good at believing, and we have to be like that if we want to truly experience the kingdom of God, if we want to experience it.

If we want to receive it.

The only way to receive a kingdom is to inherit one.

The only way to inherit one is to be the child of a king.

The only way to be a child is to be born, and we have to be born again.

And how are we born again?

We're believers.

We're believers.

That's who we, guys, that's who we are.

Like you want to look for an identity that matters.

You want to look for an identity that, something you could stamp across your chest and say, this is who I am, and this will stand the test of time.

It is not your political affiliation, it is not your nation, it is not your favorite team, right?

It is the fact you could put the word believer on your chest and say, I am a believer.

I believe in Jesus Christ.

I believe that he was crucified.

I believe that he rose on the third day, and that he is the Son of God.

And that will endure.

See, belief matters.

And so I like I'm a Jesus follower.

So Jesus' words, they just matter more to me than anyone else's.

That's how it ought to be.

And Jesus says that I have to receive the kingdom as a child.

He doesn't mince words there.

Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of heaven as one of these little children cannot enter it.

That's a big thing to say.

So if you're like me and the words of Jesus just matter to you, I say, okay, then I, man, I better believe.

And do I?

I have to ask that question.

Am I a believer?

Truly in my heart, on a day-to-day basis, am I a believer?

And I know that many of us, most of us, I mean you're in church on a Sunday morning.

That's a big deal.

You know, many of you watching from home who would be here if you could.

Like, that's awesome.

Many of you say, Yes, of course, I'm a believer.

Now, now, some of us, maybe if we're honest, we would say, I don't know.

I'm not sure if I'm there yet.

And one of the things you will never experience at this church is pressure.

We never pressure anyone to believe, to make a decision.

There's no emotional pulling of the strings.

It's one of the things I love about all the baptisms that we have.

It's like last Sunday we had six people get baptized, which was awesome.

That's great.

Yeah, we can clap for that.

That's great.

This Sunday, nobody's getting baptized.

Oh no.

And what I love is whether we have zero or six, you I think we've only had two Sundays this entire year without a baptism.

I just love the fact that we don't force that.

So I'm not saying this if you're not a believer, if you wouldn't call yourself that, I'm not saying anything to try to pressure you, to force you to make a decision.

You need to make that decision resolutely in your own heart, in your own mind.

And if you need time to wrestle with some things to get there, that's great.

But I would I would ask you this: if you would say, I don't know, I don't know if I believe in Jesus, then maybe start here.

Well, who or what do you believe in?

Because we're all believers, we're all people of faith.

Even those of us who would consider ourselves highly skeptical, we are all people of faith.

We all put our faith in something.

Like every one of you sat down in a chair in this room.

Not one of you, before sitting down, examined the chair.

I watched you.

Not one of you got down on all fours and was like, well, let me just check.

Because you know, sometimes anyone ever sat in a chair and it broke?

Anyone ever had that experience?

I have.

I have, absolutely.

Like it's it happens.

But every single time you sit down, you are you are true, you are putting your faith, you are believing in that chair, that it will hold you up.

And if it doesn't, mmm, so embarrassing.

Next week we should just mess with one chair.

Like just one chair in the room, no one knows which one it is.

See what people do, like, I don't know.

All right?

Oh, like we're all people of faith.

And so look, if if you can honestly say, hey, I don't know if I believe in Jesus, man, that's fine, but but go a step further than that.

What do you believe in?

What are you putting your trust in?

What are you putting your hope in?

What do you think is going to be the thing that is strong enough to hold you up whenever life does not go the way that you think it ought to go?

And and I I'll just say this personally, I have not found anything that can hold a candle to Jesus when it comes to something or someone worthy of putting my trust and my faith in.

And so if if if you haven't done that, again, what are you putting your faith in?

And is it is it better than Jesus?

No.

Well, yeah, he says no.

So there you go.

And maybe many of us, maybe you're like, I I kind of believe.

I think that's actually a really powerful thing to admit sometimes.

I sort of believe.

That story from Mark chapter 9 that I mentioned of this man that brings his son to Jesus to heal him, and he's like, if you can, and Jesus says, What do you mean if I can, don't you believe?

Mark 9 · chapter mention

The man responds really honestly.

In Mark chapter 9, right, verse 23, what do you mean if I can?

Mark 9 · chapter mention

Anything is possible if a person believes, and in the very next verse, the father instantly cried out, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

So maybe you're here today and you're like, I believe, but.

That happens a lot.

I believe, but I recently experienced some tragedy that has rocked my world, and I'm not sure how to make sense of it because I thought that God would protect me from that.

I do believe, but I look at the world around me and I see all this, all this horrible stuff.

I see so much death, so much anger, so much hatred, so much bigotry.

How can I believe?

Because I feel like God ought to be doing something about this.

So I do believe, but what about this?

Or I do believe, but I have been praying for something to happen for a long time.

And I thought I was praying with faith.

I am a person of faith, but it didn't happen.

It didn't go the way that it ought to have gone, and so I'm struggling with some unbelief.

If we can all be honest enough to say that sometimes we kind of believe.

But that man was wise enough in his state of sort of belief, he brought that unbelief to Jesus and he said, Help my unbelief.

And if you're struggling with full belief, if you're struggling with just passionate, no-holds-barred belief because of doubt, struggles, tragedy, disappointment, unanswered prayers, whatever it might be, bring it to Jesus and ask him to help you with your unbelief, and he will.

Jesus did not look at that man and say, Come back tomorrow when your faith is a little bit more full and we'll talk.

Jesus healed his son, and he did what was necessary for that man to go from having a little bit of faith to a lot.

If you are a believer, if you are like, yeah, I believe, I'll tell you what what my struggle is so often is making sure that I never that I never diversify my belief.

I don't want to diversify my faith, if that makes sense.

Like you're you're taught financially, it's good to diversify, you know, that you shouldn't put it all in one thing.

Even though most of my investments have been in one thing, but whatever.

I'm just realizing.

It's probably take my own advice.

No, we're taught like, don't put all your eggs in one basket, right?

I don't know where that phrase comes from.

I don't know why you would ever have multiple baskets with like one egg in each one, but you know, but but we're taught that.

Diversify.

Put your stock in in lots of different things so that if that one doesn't work out, you have these others to lean on.

And that might make sense when you're investing in in the financial uh aspects of this world, but I'm telling you, when it comes to faith, when it comes to what you believe in, when it comes to who you believe in, put it all on Jesus.

Like put it all on Jesus.

Because we all have a tendency to say, hey, I do believe in Jesus.

I have 85% of my faith in Jesus, but I've got I've got 10% of my faith in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, right?

Like, especially during election seasons, we tend to be like, yeah, but I mean, I I had a friend of mine sit across from me at a table, and he told me that he's just convinced.

He's like, I'm convinced that if Jesus Christ were alive today, and I was like, he is, but I know what he meant.

But if Jesus Christ were walking around as a person on the earth today, he would be diehard Democrat, is what this friend of mine said.

Now, some of you are shaking your heads, and you're shaking your heads because you believe he would clearly be a Republican.

You know?

Like the purpose of Jesus on the earth right now would be to endorse Donald Trump for president.

That is what Jesus would do.

And so you're like, yeah, you know.

You know, it's interesting.

If you look at the politics of Jesus' day, the Pharisees were very fundamental.

I mean, they were they were as, in our language, it was right-wing as you could be.

They believed that this is the absolute right way to do things, and anyone who doesn't do these things is evil, is wrong, and it was it was fundamental conservatism.

Then you had the Sadducees, and they were, by our definition today, very liberal.

Right?

They were in league with Rome, and they had very different ideas and beliefs about their view of scripture was very loose.

They played very fast and loose with the scriptures.

And so, like, those are just stereotypes of how we would kind of describe things today.

They did not agree about anything.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees could not agree about anything.

You know one thing they they both agreed on?

Killing Jesus.

Both were like, yeah, this guy's gotta go.

See, the truth is there's no political system in this world that truly aligns with Jesus.

Like they'll align with Jesus to a point when it's convenient, and then it's not, and then they don't.

It's always been that way, by the way.

That's that's why Jesus taught us guys that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.

A mustard seed's a tiny little seed, it's a weed.

You plant it in a garden and it grows from the bottom up.

We keep thinking for some reason in our country that change is going to happen top down.

But no, the kingdom of heaven is bottom up.

And so I say all that to say if we think that, you know, hey, I got a lot of faith in Jesus, but I'm putting some a lot of my faith too in some of these systems of this world, in the nations of this world, in the political organizations of this world, that will disappoint you.

Those will, those will waste away.

Preview for a few weeks from now, when we get into Revelation, you know, it says that when Jesus returns, that he opposes all nations.

It's an interesting line.

That it's not like Jesus comes back and he's like, You guys did it right, everyone else is wrong.

There will not be an American flag in heaven.

Okay?

It'll be a better flag.

I don't know what it looks like, but it'll it and it's hard for us sometimes to say that.

I love my country, I love this nation.

I'm actually really passionate about politics.

But I recognize that all of that is temporary, it is just the stuff of this world, and one day it will all go away because when Jesus rules entirely, there will be no need for any of that.

And so we can't put, yeah.

There's so many, there's so many distractions, at least for me as a believer, there's so many things where I'm tempted to put a lot of faith in Jesus, but also I just want to want to keep some of it and I put my faith in this.

It can be my own plans, it can, it can be this church.

Like I I love this church.

This might be horrible marketing, um, but we don't market the church.

If you commit to this church in the sense that you say, like, I'm part of his hands, this church will disappoint you.

One day.

Absolutely will.

I I will disappoint you.

Some of the people around you might disappoint you.

Because we're people.

But can we all just I just want to say this like I love it when people call me by the wrong name, when people call me Jason?

I love it.

Because if you don't have to remember my name, I don't have to remember yours.

I love it.

It takes the pressure off.

It's so good, right?

I like it sometimes when the level is lowered a little bit.

Because if we all have to live with the pressure of being perfect for one another and that we are going to be able to meet every need, that we're going to be able to rise to every occasion perfectly, it won't happen.

I remember the first time I got disappointed in my church.

I was in college and it rocked my world because I just had this idea.

It's no, it's perfect.

And it wasn't, and it doesn't have to be because Jesus is perfect.

We're just doing our best to build a community that looks like Jesus, but we're gonna fail.

We're gonna fail.

There's nothing, there's nothing worth putting your faith and your belief in other than Jesus.

And the challenge that we have as believers is that it's so easy for us just to pull a little bit out and put it into something else.

And my my prayer for us today is that if we're people who don't believe, that today could be a day that you put your belief in Jesus, that you recognize that the things you've been putting your faith in, they have not performed.

They haven't.

Or if they have, it's temporary, and you can see the writing on the wall that it's it's not gonna last forever, because nothing in this world does except for him.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Even death couldn't defeat Jesus.

I mean, even death.

You know, Romans chapter 10, verses 9 through 11, if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9–11

For it is by believing in your heart that you're made right with God.

It is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

As the scriptures tell us, anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.

If you haven't put your faith in Jesus, man, do that today.

Because I'm just telling you, he is the only thing that lasts, and he is the only thing strong enough to build your life on.

And if you have put your faith in Jesus and you're in a season right now where you're you're struggling with unbelief because things have rocked you a little bit, that's okay.

Take that to Jesus.

Don't let struggle and internal strife and doubt pull you away from him.

That's what the enemy wants.

You have some doubt, ooh, back off.

Maybe don't go to church for a while, disengage from the relationships because you're just figuring, no, no, no, run to Jesus.

I don't understand.

I'm struggling.

Why did that happen?

What's going on?

Take that to him and let him minister to your heart.

Let him resolve that unbelief.

And if you are like, yeah, I'm a believer, I'll wear the t-shirt, I'm all in.

Be on guard.

Keep your faith holy, completely on Jesus and do not diversify at all.

Do not take a little bit of it and put it here or put it there.

Don't put any of it anywhere, because there will be a day where every single power structure and kingdom of this world falls and Jesus will remain.

And on that day, you don't want 75% of your faith and trust in Jesus.

No, you want all of it.

Because he is the only thing, the only thing that has defeated death itself.

And we put our trust and our faith in him, he does not disappoint.

So, with that said, we're gonna wrap up by taking Lord's Supper.

And every single one of us is welcome to do this.

If you came in and you didn't grab a cup, uh they're at the back tables, feel free to go grab one.

It's it's not a walk of shame to go get a cup, by the way.

It's totally good to do it.

You know, there's another aspect of an inheritance.

My wife Megan brought this up yesterday as I was, I always go like through the message with her on Saturday.

I'm like, so here's what I'm thinking.

And she always makes faces, and I'm like, what?

What's that face?

And then I don't like that face.

She made a face.

And she said, you know, there's something I think you might be missing.

And then I usually look and I go, I just want you to tell me that it's great and you love it.

You know?

No, I'm just joking.

I kinda.

But she said, you know, you don't truly receive an inheritance unless unless someone passes away.

You know, that there's there's a transfer.

And usually that transfer is is via death.

And I I can't even pretend like I can describe to you all of the implications that go along with Jesus and his death and his resurrection, even though next Sunday that's what the whole Sunday is all about.

But there's something to that.

I just thought about that yesterday.

Like, yeah, there's okay.

Every Sunday we take this meal and we take this meal to remember what Jesus did for us.

He died for us.

The bread, if you've never done this before, it represents his body.

The juice represents his blood.

And he asked his followers to do this, to take this little meal, and it's been taken in a variety of ways and all kinds of manners all throughout the history of our faith.

But we take this meal to remember Jesus and his death on the cross.

And we look at it from a variety of angles.

On one hand, he paid for our sins, that's true.

He died as an atoning sacrifice.

The Old Testament kind of paints a picture of why that's necessary.

It's an act of love.

It's so many different things, but it is it is death.

He died.

And when he died, he gave something to us.

He passed something on to us.

It's his righteousness, it's his goodness, it's his identity as a as a son, as the child of Father God, and by belief, through faith, through faith in in his death and his resurrection, we have inherited a kingdom.

You are a child of the king of this universe through faith, through belief.

And so I I encourage us as we take this today prayerfully, that we would be filled with gratitude and awe at who we are because of what he did, because of that death that he suffered, we've inherited all of this.

So let's pray together.

Father God, we thank you for this piece of bread and we thank you for what it represents for us, Lord.

You died for us so that we could receive an inheritance, so that we could receive a kingdom through faith, through belief, like children, Lord.

We want to take this piece of bread into our bodies, and with the faith of children, we want to believe that this is enough for us.

That we don't have to add to this, that we don't have to receive this and then follow the right rules or do things the right way to earn our way into heaven.

No, we are not earners, we are heirs.

And we are heirs because of what you've done for us.

Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done for us.

Let's take the bread.

Father, we thank you for this cup.

Lord, we thank you for your blood being spilled.

You held nothing back.

You still to this day hold nothing back.

You never have, you never will.

You have adopted us.

By your blood.

We are blood.

We are family.

And we thank you for this, Jesus.

Let's take the Jews.