September 6, 2025 • 45 mins
Have you ever wished you could see God face-to-face? In this powerful exploration of Jesus Christ as God the Son, we discover how Jesus makes the invisible God visible to humanity.
When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus replied with a statement that still challenges us today: "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Through Christ's compassion for the marginalized, defense of the weak, and sacrificial love, we see exactly who God is. Jesus wasn't merely representing God—He was God in human form.
The eternal nature of Christ transforms our understanding of both history and our personal struggles. Jesus existed before creation itself, participated in creating everything we see, and will exist long after our earthly lives conclude. This eternal perspective helps us navigate life's valleys with confidence, knowing that our temporary struggles don't define our ultimate destiny.
Perhaps most profound is Christ's redemptive purpose. Like a judge who finds you guilty, then steps down from the bench to serve your sentence himself, Jesus took our punishment willingly. His resurrection stands as definitive proof that death doesn't win, offering hope that transcends our greatest fears.
But Jesus isn't just our Savior—He reigns as King. This lordship has practical implications for daily living. When we accept Christ as Savior but fail to submit to Him as Lord, we miss the fullness of relationship He offers. The question isn't merely "Who is Jesus?" in an abstract sense, but "Who is Jesus to you?" Your answer determines not just your eternal destiny, but the purpose and quality of your life right now.
Ready to experience the transformative power of knowing Christ as both Savior and Lord? Join us on this journey of discovery and surrender to the One who makes the invisible God visible in our lives.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amen, amen, amen, thanks.
Dave's not here today, sosomebody has to watch out for me
so I don't get a broken neckright.
It is a guarantee that I willtrip over that truck.
Hey, how many of you know whoJohn Crist is?
Christian comedian?
No, not many of you.
Okay, so he has this bit wherehe talks about the different
(00:21):
styles of worship, and I'vetalked about this before.
You know, you've got the littlefish and then the big fish
carry the big screen.
Change the light bulb.
You know what I mean?
I've invented a new one.
I caught myself the other daydoing it and I was like do I do
that regularly?
I don't have my coffee cup.
I've invented the Statue ofLiberty.
This is how I, if you catch me,that, this is how I, if you
(00:44):
catch me, that's how I'm saying.
So that's my new, that's my newword.
That one's trademarked.
By the way, you can't have itAnyhow.
We're on a journey, a four-weekjourney, to get through who is
God and understanding the HolyTrinity.
So if you weren't here lastweek, you missed God the Father,
but today we're going to be inGod the Son.
So I wanted to just recap lastweek for a second and just
(01:04):
remind you that God is the onewhom we are praying to.
He is the one who created allthings, amen.
Our desire is to serve thekingdom and to please the Father
and to do all things unto God.
Right Now.
Here's the thing he knew thatwe were a sinful people.
And see, adam and Eve man.
They really messed it up for usbecause we could have been
(01:25):
living in the land of milk andhoney.
Right, we could have had all ofthe blessings.
Jess, you're back there all byyourself.
Like you got like this, likethis, what's going on over here
today?
I don't know, everybody squeezetogether, I don't know.
No, I'm kidding, it's justreally funny to me when I come
in some Sundays and some of thespots are completely empty,
(01:45):
right, so, like we've got a lotof people out today.
There's some people out forfamily reunion.
Unfortunately, we have a sickkid at home, so my wife is at
home with him this morning.
Dave is with family.
So, like you start to noticethere's little pockets missing.
But here's what I believe.
I believe God has called eachof you here today for this
message, right, he didn'tprepare it for no reason.
(02:07):
He prepared it so that youmight hear it, and so I want you
to just let's center ourselveson that.
Let's not worry about thethings that are missing or the
people who aren't here, orwhatever we may have in our
minds right now.
Let's just let that go, becauseI really want to focus in on
who Jesus is in our lives.
So our first passage ofscripture this morning is going
to be Colossians 1.
(02:29):
I think that's right.
Yes, colossians 1.15.
And it says Christ is thevisible image of the invisible
God.
He existed before anything wascreated and is the supreme over
all of creation.
(02:49):
Now, the first part of thattells us exactly who Jesus is.
Right, christ is the visibleimage of the invisible God.
Jesus was tangible, right.
The disciples could touch him.
The lady touched the hem of hisgarment.
He was a physical being of aninvisible God, a God that we
(03:10):
cannot see, and because wecannot see him, we oftentimes
don't understand him.
Amen.
Now I want you to think back tosome of the Old Testament stuff.
You know we talk a lot abouthow vengeful God was in the Old
Testament.
God was.
He was a jealous God.
He didn't like it when theIsraelites would run off and do
things that he didn't want themto do because he was jealous
(03:32):
over what he had created to begood and whole.
Amen, you guys, good, everybodyhere this morning.
We're awake, all right.
I'm believing that you'rereverent and not asleep.
That's what I'm believing today.
Amen, okay, what you do you,yeah, thanks.
Thanks a lot, dale, thanks alot, dale.
Our next passage of scripturethat I wanna read with you today
(03:54):
is John 14, nine.
It says Jesus replied I havebeen with you all this time,
philip, and yet you don't knowwho I am.
Anyone who has seen me has seenthe Father, so why are you
asking me to show him to you?
Amen.
So what's happening is Philipis asking Jesus to reveal God to
(04:19):
them, and Jesus' response isyou're looking at him?
Right, I am the embodiment ofwho God is.
Now, here's the thing.
We as a culture would hear thatphrase and say well, he's just
gaslighting us, right?
God's obviously not real.
He is trying to make himselfholy, amen, right.
(04:43):
Have you ever had somebody tellyou oh, you don't need to see
the proof, you just need totrust me.
How many times do we just trustthem?
Never is the correct answer.
In most situations, never isthe correct answer.
Why is that?
Because the world hasconditioned us that the world,
(05:08):
that people, cannot be trusted.
Right Now, there are some peopleI would trust with my life,
right, pastor Roger, pastorHolly, if they said to me hey, I
need you to do this, I'mprobably going to do it Good,
bad or indifferent, because Iknow that they've got my best
interest at heart.
And then there are some peoplewho are like, well, pastor
Michael, I'm your friend, whydon't you do this?
(05:29):
And I'm like I don't know ifwe're that close.
Right, because the world hasconditioned me that people will
disappoint me.
Every day, people willdisappoint me.
Now I'm gonna take a quickbreak from talking about Jesus
to talk about me.
Is that okay?
Good, I'm gonna do it anyway.
Here's the deal.
(05:51):
I realized that in my life Inever sit still.
My goal is to always go to thenext thing.
Anybody else like that.
Roger's already like.
He's thinking three projectsahead of me.
I've already got other stuffthat and he's losing his mind.
Glue my feet to the floorbecause he doesn't want me
moving anymore.
Here's the thing.
I've realized that God hascalled me to that path for a
(06:15):
reason.
It is to create greatness wherethere is not greatness.
Amen.
Now I'm not saying that I amgreat.
I am saying that he is greatand I am doing the work that he
has called me to do, amen,listen, don't get me wrong.
I know I can be dumber than abox of rocks, trust me, okay.
So I want to tell you this andagain, I'm not bragging, I'm
(06:35):
telling you because I need youto understand that when we trust
God and we believe in Jesus,great things will happen in our
lives, right?
Okay?
So here's the deal.
What has it been Over a monthjust over a month, something
like that that I lost my jobunexpectedly, right?
That was traumatizing, right, Ihadn't done anything wrong.
(06:56):
They're like, just, we weregoing a different direction.
See, ya, right, pound thepavement.
I was like I'm going home and Idon't even know where to go.
If I go home, I have to tell mywife what happened, right?
Okay?
So then, my wife, my wife, isso gracious.
If you guys don't know her, youshould meet her and you should
love her, because she is thenicest woman you will ever meet.
(07:18):
And she said to me it is notyour fault.
She said it's not your fault,I'm not upset with you, it's not
your fault.
But in all of that I said Idon't know what to do.
She said take some time, figureit out.
And so I started applying forjobs.
And if any of us have everapplied for jobs, sometimes you
just spam, apply for work right,like one click, apply, done
(07:39):
right, and you start gettingcalls and emails from people you
don't even remember applyingfor jobs for Anybody ever been
there.
Yes, okay, thank you Jesus.
So I lost my car because I had acompany car so I had to take it
back.
So we went to buy a car.
While we're in the dealership Iget a call from a lady who says
that she's with the FirstNational Bank of Denison and she
would like me to come in for aninterview the following day.
And I thought, well, I appliedfor a teller position at the
(08:02):
bank that ain't going to pay thebills, right, we know that.
So I walk into the interviewand they offer me a position
that was never posted and I'mlike great, wonderful, this
could potentially work.
I have been there for not quitefour weeks yet.
Not quite four weeks.
Last Thursday Thursday, I endedup Wednesday, something like
(08:24):
that, I don't remember what dayit was I end up in the office
with the bank president andthey're offering me a promotion.
Can I tell you something?
God is good In all things.
God is good.
See, I thought I was lost and Ithought that my life had been
upended.
And really, what he was sayingis I need you to trust me, Right
?
And in all of those, all ofthose times, we were continuing
(08:50):
to believe that God was going todo something great in our lives
, that God was going to move usfrom one season to.
I can yell louder than you, Ipromise, that God was moving us
from one season of life intoanother season of life, and I
didn't understand that move.
And I'll be honest with you, Istill don't understand that move
, but I trust what God hadcalled me to, amen, and I
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believe that Jesus Christ isLord over my life, and because I
believe that he will continueto do great and mighty works.
Here's the thing I had to gothrough a valley.
Now, it was a short valley, butI had to go through it.
Right, see, some of our valleysare longer, but why is our
valley longer?
Because we stopped trustingJesus, right, see, we don't
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believe that he is, in fact, theLord and Savior, that he is the
creator and the doer of allthings in our lives and instead
what we do is we start to blamehim for loss.
We talked about this at themen's meeting.
Sometimes you get in your ownway.
Sometimes you start to wrestlewith God and argue with God and
you start to blame Jesus for thedysfunction in your life.
(09:56):
But a lot of times those areour choices.
We are the one to blame forthat fault.
Listen, the enemy's got a lotof stuff going on, right.
He's got wars all over theplace, right.
He's got famine.
He's got nations that are justdestroyed.
He's got things to focus on.
He ain't worried about yourKrispy Kreme donuts.
(10:19):
Listen, that's your choice.
You broke your diet.
Don't blame the enemy.
Get back on the horse, right?
Amen, okay, all right, I'msorry.
When Philip asked Jesus, show usthe Father, and Jesus replied
anyone who has seen me has seenthe Father.
We have to understand what thatmeans.
Jesus is the clearest pictureof God we will ever see.
(10:42):
Amen.
Now understand what that means.
We don't have a photograph ofJesus, right?
We don't actually know whatJesus looks like.
We have an interpretation ofwhat Jesus looks like.
Amen.
Anybody ever seen him?
No, anybody get a selfie withhim?
(11:03):
No, if I do.
I'm getting mine autographed.
It doesn't be worth something.
But because we have never seenhis face doesn't mean we haven't
seen him.
We've seen his goodness, andthat's what matters.
See, that's what we should befocused on.
We've seen the goodness of Godthrough the sacrifice of his son
(11:26):
, jesus Christ.
Right?
So here's the thing.
We look at God as a God who isjealous over us, but he is so
jealous over our relationshipwith him that he would send his
one and only begotten son to dieon a cross so that you and I
might have everlasting life.
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Salvation did not come for free.
There was a cost.
That cost was the life of JesusChrist.
Now the son is the one whoreveals the father.
Amen.
Jesus didn't just talk about whoGod was.
He didn't talk about who Godwas.
(12:09):
He showed us who God wasthrough love and compassion.
Think about all of the timesthat Jesus was defending the
weak and the poor right.
He was no respecter of persons.
It didn't matter if you were awoman, it didn't matter if you
were a Samaritan, it didn'tmatter who you were to Jesus, he
(12:31):
wanted goodness in your life.
There are people sitting inthis sanctuary today and people
sitting in our community whodon't truly know just how good
Jesus is, because they see usbroken people trying to pour out
Jesus into a broken community.
Amen, jesus wasn't broken.
(12:54):
He was perfect and so when helooked at a broken person, he
gave them love and compassion.
Do we do the same thing?
We try, or at least I hope wetry right.
We look at a broken people andwe think, man, they did not
decide that this would be theirlife.
(13:15):
Something happened that wasbeyond our comprehension.
Listen, I've never been analcoholic.
I've never been addicted todrugs.
I can't look at somebody who'saddicted to drugs and say that
they're a loser.
I have to look at them and saythey are losing right now, but
they will have victory.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Listen, we have to change ouroutlook on the world so that the
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world can change its outlook onus.
Right, if I want every personto hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ and to be able to inheritthe kingdom of heaven, like I'm
going to, I have to be willingto show love and mercy in all
things.
Thank you, I don't know how youcan't get excited about that,
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listen.
Well, maybe you're not excitedbecause you can't show love and
mercy.
Maybe that's why you can't getexcited.
I was thinking the other night.
I told you guys this once andforgive me for sharing it again,
but sometimes I sit around andI think about how I could ruin
other people's lives.
Right Like, I know things aboutpeople I probably shouldn't
(14:21):
know.
And one text message you justbring that house of cards to the
ground.
Amen.
Any of you know that stuffabout people, right, listen,
last night I was sitting in myroom and I was running through
my sermon notes and I said Lord,just give me some direction
with this.
He's like, you know how youalways say that.
He's like stop saying that andbless those people.
(14:41):
And I'm like but God, isn't itfun to have some of that power?
And he says isn't it fun to benice?
And I say but God, isn't it fun?
And he just kept and listen.
Here's the problem that I have.
(15:04):
Sometimes my flesh takes over,right, I've been.
Listen.
We went to Steak and Shake lastnight.
There is no worse place to eatthan Steak and Shake.
If I'm going to be honest withyou, listen, I don't mind the
food, but what happened to Steakand Shake?
Steak and Shake you used to goin.
Sit down at the table.
The waitress would come overand take your order and then
she'd bring you your food right.
And at the end of my meal Icould order my milkshake and
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they would bring it to me andthen I could leave fat and sassy
right.
But here's the thing Nowthey've got kiosks and that's it
.
You don't even get to talk to aperson anymore.
At Steak and Shake, you walk inand they're like welcome to
Steak and Shake from behind thegrill.
They don't care that you'rethere because they're collecting
a paycheck regardless, right,guys?
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The church is the same way.
We're sitting in this seathoping to collect a paycheck.
The same way we're hoping toinherit the kingdom of God, but
we don't care about the peoplewho aren't with us, right?
We aren't worried about theworld.
When they walk in, we're like,hey, welcome to church.
And we don't hear it.
We don't talk to them everagain, right?
We don't concern ourselves withwhat are their needs.
(16:08):
We don't concern ourselves withhow do we show Christ in all
things.
Instead, we focus on what wewant.
Okay, we're gonna have a littlegame.
You ready?
Imagine for a second that I wereto tell you that the person
that you thought was your fatherwas not actually your father,
(16:30):
and I started describing yourfather to you and I tell you all
of the things about him andthen when you finally meet him
face to face, he's nothing likewhat I've described.
That's disappointing, right?
That would be incrediblydisappointing.
See, the problem is, is that'swhat the church is doing about
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god?
Because we're not showing jesus, we're describing him in a way
that is not attainable.
What do I mean by that, pastormichael?
What do you mean?
That we are describing jesus asa way that's not attainable?
You're making him sound notattainable.
You're making him sound like agenie.
You're making him sound likeall of your cares will disappear
when you accept him as yourLord and Savior.
(17:13):
That's not how that works,right?
The closer you get to God, themore struggles you will
experience.
Why don't you experiencestruggles whenever you're
distant from God?
Enemy doesn't have, he doesn'thave any need to work on you.
You're already doing it, right,you're already living in the
world, living for him.
(17:33):
But when you accept JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior,
the enemy says well, I don'treally wanna let that one go.
So here I come, and he comes inhot and he comes in strong, you
know.
So here I come and he comes inhot and he comes in strong.
You walk into the church and yousay, hey, I'm gonna start
giving 10% of my income to thechurch because that's what God
has called me to do.
Then, all of a sudden, youain't got a job anymore.
(17:54):
Right?
I told you guys this.
I'll tell you again, because Igenuinely believe that this is
why God is so faithful.
In my household, when I lost myjob, we continued to tithe on
what I should be making, not onwhat I am making.
Right?
Do you know how that hurts?
That's a lot of money to justgive away when you ain't got it
coming in.
But here's what I said God willbless us because of it.
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It may not be a financialblessing.
It may just be good enoughhealth to get up and go to work
in the morning, right, amen.
It may be enough money to justmake the car the juice right out
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of it, hallelujah.
So whenever you guys go back andlisten to this live stream,
you're gonna be like whathappened there, you'll know.
You'll know Jesus needs to beintroduced to people as our Lord
and Savior, as the one whointroduces us to the Father.
(19:16):
Right?
We need to understand that noman shall inherit the kingdom
except through Jesus Christ.
Right?
Okay, the son is eternal.
John 1, 1.
Oh, I forgot, I'm doing slidesup here.
I forgot about that.
I'm multitasking today.
In the beginning, the wordalready existed.
The word was with God and theword was God.
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He existed in the beginningwith God.
God created everything throughhim and nothing, nothing was
created except through him.
Okay, through him.
Him, he is Jesus.
Right, jesus existed with theword, with God, before man was
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created.
And when man was created, itwas created through Jesus Christ
.
Right?
So now let's do that mathbackwards.
Any of you guys good at likemath that has like X's and Y's
in it?
I don't understand that stuff.
Why'd they ever do that to us?
I don't think I've ever used itonce in my life, mainly because
I have Google now and I justlike hey, google, figure this
out for me, right?
(20:19):
Anyhow, let's do that mathbackwards.
The only way to get back to Godis through Jesus.
It's simple math, right?
Add it, subtract it.
Listen, the son existed beforewe existed and he will exist
long after we don't exist.
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Amen, god is not going anywhere, only we will go somewhere.
Now we also have to rememberthat God is omnipresent.
That means he is everywhere allat the same time.
So when he rests in this place,he also rests everywhere else.
So when you go places that youought not go, shall I remind you
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Jesus is there, and I only wantto go into places that I can
take Jesus with me, right?
I don't want to go into barsand into nightclubs and places
where, if Jesus were in there inthe flesh, people would
question why he's there.
I only want to go to placesthat uplift and exalt and
(21:29):
glorify Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The son took on flesh.
In John 1, 14, it said so theword became human and made his
home among us.
He was full of unfailing loveand faithfulness and we have
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seen his glory, the glory of theFather's one and only Son.
Hallelujah.
So the word became flesh.
Jesus came to the earth inorder to sacrifice his life so
that we might have everlastinglife.
Amen.
What does everlasting life meanto you?
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Forever and ever, this issomething that is never going to
not exist, amen.
So when I go to heaven, I wantto be well when I die, let's put
it that way.
I ain't looking to get thereright away, but if I were to go.
Right now, my hope is in heaven.
Right, that is where my desirelays, but so many of us don't
(22:41):
worry about what it takes to getthere.
That relationship with the sunis what creates the opening into
heaven.
Right, you can do good things,you can be a nice person, you
can talk kindly to one another,you can do all of the nice
things, but that fruit does notget you into heaven.
A relationship with JesusChrist is the only thing that
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will get you into heaven.
Believing that Jesus Christ isyour Lord and Savior, that he
was born of a virgin, died on across, was buried for three days
, rose again and that he isreturning, is your only hope of
salvation.
Amen, that is it.
That is it.
Now.
Here's the thing that gift isgiven freely.
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There is no requirement toreceive.
You can say a prayer, you cando all of those things.
Those are for you.
Those are for you to haveconfidence in what it is that
you're accepting in your life.
Listen, I know a lot of, as amatter of fact, myself.
When I got saved, nobody said aprayer with me.
There wasn't some life change.
(23:46):
The light bulb didn't come on.
I stood in that chair.
I sat right there and I justwept and I knew that I had to
give my life to Jesus in orderto be saved, right, in order to
have everyone I knew.
But that was through arelationship with Christ.
That wasn't through arelationship with people.
Right, I had a body ofbelievers who were praying for
me and believing that God wouldchange my heart, and when he did
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, they were excited for me.
Right, they were excited for me, but nobody was getting me
there except for me.
I had to know who Jesus was andaccept him for who he was.
How many of you guys have seenAladdin?
That's one of my favoriteDisney movies, right?
(24:33):
Let's be honest with you.
The 90s Disney movies are farsuperior than any other Disney
series.
Like, don't start with me, Dale, I'll fist fight you right now.
The Lion King, the LittleMermaid, all of those movies
were far superior than any ofthis new Pixar stuff.
And here's the reason becausethe storylines were better.
Right, listen, dale, we'regoing to square up buddy when I
(24:58):
watch Aladdin.
When I watch Aladdin one of thescenes that I always am amazed
by, and mainly because I thinkas a kid I didn't question it,
but then as an adult, I'm likethat didn't make any sense
really, right.
I think it's the beauty ofbeing a child.
It's that child like faithJasmine the princess.
She goes out into themarketplace because she's never
(25:20):
been allowed to leave the palacewalls right.
So she changes her clothes, sheputs on this old what do you
call that thing that she put on?
Yeah, you know what it is.
Anyhow, you know what it is.
Let's just say that she didn'tlook like a princess.
So she goes out into themarketplace and she's talking to
all of these people and somehowgets herself into trouble and
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Aladdin comes to her rescue andthen they arrest Aladdin and she
flips off the hat and she says,by order of the princess,
release him.
Do you think that if we were totruly look around, jesus walks
among us daily.
Now, I'm not saying he's goingto flip his top back and say, in
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the name, you know what I mean,but I'm saying that every
interaction that we have withsomebody, we should be Jesus
right, because in the name ofJesus, you will be healed.
By order of the princess, byorder of King Jesus.
You will be healed by order ofKing Jesus.
You will be set free by orderof King.
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Listen, you guys ain't gettingexcited.
Can I tell you that if we trulybelieve that Jesus was a chain
breaker, if Jesus could set usfree, that we could get excited
about it.
Listen, listen, I'm going totell you right now.
If we believed it, we wouldhave a much healthier community
that we lived in right.
If we truly believed that, wewould be in nursing home
(26:47):
ministries, we would be out inthe street, we would be visiting
the homeless and we would beproclaiming the name of Jesus
over the lives of those people.
Don't get me wrong.
Some of those people ain'tgonna accept him, not the first
time, maybe not the second time,maybe not the second time,
maybe not the third time, maybenot the 10th time.
But the only way for them toknow who Jesus is is for us to
(27:13):
show him and to walk out whatJesus lived for.
Amen.
Whoo the son is the one whoredeemed us Romans 5, 8.
But God showed his great lovefor us by sending Christ to die
(27:34):
for us while we were stillsinners.
We are still sinners today,many of us sitting in this room
knowing that we are sinners,knowing that we actively partake
in things that separate us fromthe will of God, and yet we
(28:04):
don't quite understand.
Why would we not want to acceptthat salvation, repent and turn
from our sins and live solelyfor the kingdom of God?
Why wouldn't we want to do that?
Because we're selfish.
We are selfish beings andhaving things that make us look
(28:28):
good and feel good, and all ofthis, that's what we're focused
on.
Amen.
I don't know about you.
I like the finer things in life.
Steak and shake is not one ofthem.
The only reason we ended upthere yesterday was because
that's where my son wanted to gofor his 16th birthday dinner.
I will take you anywhere youwant to eat and you are picking
(28:49):
steak and shake Now in hisdefense for his birthday.
We've eaten at Denny's Jerry's.
He just doesn't have very goodtaste.
I guess I don't know, but Ilike the finer things in life.
(29:11):
Right?
I shouldn't pick on Jerry'sbecause my oldest son's down
here shaking his leg like he'llfist fight me over Jerry's.
This boy loves some Jerry's.
I don't know, man, I like thefiner things in life and so I
have to balance that with mylove for Jesus.
Right, because I can chaseriches in the world.
I can store up all of thosethings here, right?
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Anybody know anybody with astorage shed full of stuff that
they don't really need, thatthey don't really need.
I said it on purpose.
She's like I don't know anybody.
I need all of that stuff.
Everything in there is useful,right, everything is useful.
We build up riches here onearth, but we don't build up
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riches in heaven Because, see,we don't.
Pastor Holly, I know you buildup riches in heaven, but not
everybody does, right?
We collect all of the things onearth.
I just watched a documentaryabout the ruby red slippers.
Anybody seen that documentaryyet?
You should watch it.
It's a lot of fun.
The ruby red slippers that werestolen from a museum in
(30:18):
Wisconsin or something like that, sold for $20 million.
What could you do with $20million?
A lot of stuff, right Now.
Here's the thing Somebody had$20 million to spend on shoes.
I'm not giving you any ideas.
(30:39):
I'm not giving you any idea.
What size do you wear?
Oh, those were only a five anda half.
They wouldn't have done you anygood, darn.
Next time they come up forauction, I'll bid on them for
you.
Okay, $20 million.
Imagine what you can do in thekingdom of God for $20 million.
Imagine the people that you canreach, the Bibles that you can
(31:02):
hand out.
Imagine what you can do for $20million.
That means somebody had thatmoney to spend on a pair of
shoes.
And my question is are theybuilding up riches on earth or
are they building up riches inheaven?
Amen.
There's nothing wrong withhaving nice things.
There's nothing wrong withbeing able to pay your bills and
(31:24):
doing all of the wonderfulthings.
People love to vacation, that'sokay.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a car payment.
There's nothing wrong withhaving money.
The problem is is do you lovethat money more than you love
your Lord and Savior, jesusChrist?
That's the question that wehave to ask, because we
understand that Jesus came toredeem us right.
So if I have something to focuson, it is not the cash in my
(31:47):
bank account, it is my Lord andSavior, jesus Christ, because he
has redeemed me.
That money has done nothing forme, but buy me things right To
try to fill a void somewhere inmy life, but at the end of the
day, the only thing filling thatvoid is Jesus Christ, amen.
So when he came to redeem me,he came to die on a cross.
You know, jesus knew that thatwas going to happen to him, that
(32:10):
was revealed to him, he sharedit with the disciples and the
disciples didn't understand andthey said no, lord, he would
speak to them and they didn'tunderstand.
We've read it, we know that ithappened and yet we still don't
accept it as our salvation, asthe thing that has created us
whole and new.
Amen.
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The resurrection is proof of onevery important thing Death
doesn't win.
Death cannot win.
It's impossible.
I don't understand why we can'tget excited about that.
I know that, should the lordtarry, I will taste a physical
death.
Right, my body will die and gointo the ground.
(32:56):
That will happen.
My wife and I are arguing aboutlife insurance right now.
Right, right, because you buywhole life insurance, you buy
term life insurance.
Dave Ramsey says term is theonly way to go right.
But I've got a whole lifepolicy.
I've been paying on for so longthat it's built cash value.
But the problem is it's notnearly as much as a term life
policy would be.
I can get a million dollars interm life for the same price
(33:18):
that I'm paying for $150,000worth of whole life policy same
price that I'm paying for$150,000 worth of whole life
policy.
But the problem is the term life.
Who said that?
You're right, the term lifewears out.
It's a 30-year policy.
Now my kids think I'm old,pastor Roger, how old are you?
(33:45):
75.
That's old Anyhow.
A 30-year policy will only takeme to about 70 years old.
Well, we know, pastor Roger canlive to 75, right, so chances
are.
So what happens if I die afterthat?
Roger can live to 75, right, sochances are.
So what happens if I die afterthat?
There's nothing there, right?
(34:06):
There's nothing there.
And so the question becomeswhat is the right answer?
Here's the right answer Believein Jesus.
Right, I need my house to bepaid off, and that is it,
because all I need to do isenough money to put me put this
body in the ground, because Ialready know that I am better
off dead than I am alive.
Amen, quite frankly, if I get aterm policy too big, I might be
(34:27):
better off dead to my wife.
So, just trying to think thisthrough and be a little logical,
y'all.
Anyhow, this is something thisis as I was.
I had to Google an illustrationbecause I couldn't come up with
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something that would make methink of or make me explain to
you what this is like.
So imagine you've donesomething horrendous and you're
in court and the judge finds youguilty.
Right, he says you're guilty,you're going to jail, and after
he says it, he steps off of theroad or off of the platform, he
takes off his robe and he servesthe sentence for you.
(35:08):
That's a real life situationthat you can comprehend.
That's what Jesus did for us.
Right, he was blameless.
He wasn't the sinner at all,that was us.
So he steps down from heaven tohang on the cross so that we
(35:30):
could have everlasting life.
He served a sentence that wewould never be able to serve.
I can promise you, not one ofus would have been strong enough
to hang on a cross and simplysay it is finished.
We would have been begging andpleading.
Jesus went willingly.
(35:50):
Amen, amen, amen.
The son reigns as king.
If we look at Philippians 2, 9,it says, therefore, god elevated
him to the place of highesthonor and gave him the name,
(36:12):
above all other names, that atthe name of Jesus, every knee
should bow in heaven and onearth and under the earth, and
every tongue declare that JesusChrist is Lord to the glory of
God, the Father.
He is not just our Savior, butthe Lord over our lives.
(36:39):
He is not just our Savior.
So when we are doing somethingin the world, we should be
focused on what Jesus would haveus do and not what we would
want to do ourselves.
Now here's the thing you haveto understand and be able to
discern that voice, that stillsmall voice of Jesus speaking to
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you.
Amen, because when Jesus speaks, you hear and then you say I
don't think that was Jesus Right.
Sometimes we hear Jesus say youprobably shouldn't do that.
I'm going to tell you, was itlast year?
We were all going to thatBrandon Lake concert.
We were all were all going tothat Brandon Lake concert.
We were all supposed to go to aBrandon Lake concert.
It was a huge group of us.
I had bought some tickets for agroup and then at the last
(37:23):
minute, our babysitter canceledon us.
The very last I'm talking verylast minute.
We scrambled, we looked, wetried, we hoped and we could not
find anybody to keep the kids.
And so my wife and I decidedwe're going to give our tickets
away and we are going to stayhome.
And when we did that we thought, man, what a disappointment,
right, it's like $120 in tickets.
(37:44):
And we just like that was areal bummer.
I got a call the next day fromthe person I'd gifted the
tickets to and they said Ireally needed that, my
relationship with God justhasn't been the same and I
really needed to be in thepresence of the Holy Spirit.
It wasn't about me, right, itwasn't about me, it was about
(38:07):
the glory of the kingdom.
And I was thankful that my wifeand I were obedient to that
still small voice that just saidstay home, and to that still
small voice that said hand overthe tickets to this person.
See, we didn't get blessed fromthat in any physical way, but
(38:27):
somebody else got blessedthrough it and we accepted that
blessing as our blessing as well, that God had given us the
ability to purchase thosetickets and to gift them.
My wife and I have been lookingforward to that for quite some
time to just not get to go, butwe knew God was doing something
good.
Anyway, he is not just oursavior, but he is our Lord.
(38:49):
He is the still small voice, heis the beating of our heart.
He should be all of the thingsthat we feel inside.
They should be good and whole,because that's where Jesus lives
.
Right, you know, there are alot of our young kids if you ask
them where Jesus lives in myheart.
Right, as adults, we know that.
We've been taught that inSunday school, but we don't know
(39:11):
how to live that right, becauseour heart posture is dark and
dated and it's hard and it'sjust not positive and we have to
be able to adjust that in orderto show Jesus in the world
every day.
Now, this is the important partJesus's name, the name of Jesus,
that's who we pray in.
(39:32):
We pray in the name of Jesus toGod, the Father.
We understand that In the nameof Jesus and we speak things in
the name of Jesus, because heintercedes for us at the right
hand of the Father, right, andI'm thankful every day that he
intercedes and he accounts formy stupidity Fair way to say it.
(39:53):
Right, because we all knowwe're going to fall short of the
glory of God and oftentimesit's in a really dumb way.
I'm the only one.
That's fine.
I'm okay with being the onlydumb one in the room, y'all.
God has done some big things inmy life, but because I am
stupid, he's like I'm going tostop you from doing that so that
(40:16):
you can do this instead.
And then he blesses me and thenturns around and blesses
somebody and listen.
If he can work through this hotmess, he can certainly work
through any of you.
I promise you he is norespecter of persons.
There is nobody sitting in thisroom that is less than any
person who ever stands in apulpit.
There have been unfoldings inchurches in our area that I'll
(40:39):
tell you this.
I will tell you this there isno person less than those people
.
When God moves in your life, heis calling you to something
great, amen.
Now there are some of you whomaybe haven't accepted Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Maybe there are some of youwho've been sitting in this room
(41:00):
that have known Jesus yourentire life.
Maybe there are some of you whoare going.
I think I know who Jesus is, butI don't fully get it.
Let's talk about it, because ifyou aren't confident in your
relationship with Christ, thenwe have to ask what does heaven
look like?
I want each and every one ofyou there Now.
(41:21):
I don't know how it's gonnawork.
I don't know if I'm gonnarecognize you, some of you.
I hope I don't.
I'm kidding.
Some of you are hoping thatabout me too.
I'm sure At the end of the day,we should all get to the
kingdom of heaven, amen.
But we have to understand howwe get there, and that is
through Jesus and no other way.
(41:42):
Jesus is more than a teacher ora prophet.
He is the eternal son of God,who stepped into humanity, died
for our sins, rose in victoryand reigns forever.
He is your savior and your Lord.
The question is not who isJesus.
The question is who is Jesus toyou?
(42:03):
The question is who is Jesus toyou?
So I want to have a call toaction and I just want to say
this that, as we continue totalk through this last portion
of the sermon, dan, can you turnup that prayer music for me
just a little bit?
If you have never trusted Jesusas your savior, I want to
(42:25):
encourage you to make today thatday.
If you have known him as yourLord and savior but you have
stepped away from him, I want toencourage you today to retake
that relationship.
Amen.
If you're sitting in this roomand you say I know who Jesus is,
but I've never been able tofind relationship with him, I've
(42:47):
never been able to understandwhat Jesus can do in my life, I
want you to just pray about thattoday and I wanna be able to
pray with you.
Let's just bow our heads andwe're gonna pray together.
Father, in the mighty name ofJesus, I thank you that every
heart in this building isprepared to receive you.
(43:10):
Lord, the hearts that haveknown you forever.
Refresh them, give them aburning desire to seek you more
frequently.
Lord and Lord, for those whoare sitting in this room who
have never accepted you as theirLord and Savior, I pray that
you stir them up today.
Allow your warmth to fill theirbody, lord.
(43:36):
Allow them to be able to feelyou, to know you, to be able to
touch you.
Lord, I believe that right now,as we're sitting in this place,
(43:57):
that there are some of you whoare saying this is something
I've never experienced before.
And if you are accepting JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior
right now, I want you to, justat the end of this service, just
find Pastor Roger.
Pastor Roger, I'm gonna haveyou of this service.
Just find Pastor Roger.
Pastor Roger, I'm gonna haveyou.
Come up front.
Just find Pastor Roger and tellhim so that we can connect with
(44:20):
you, because I want to be ableto share how great Jesus is and
how wonderful he will be in yourlife.
I know that there are peoplesitting here right now saying I
think he's talking about me, butI don't know.
Allow this to be yourconfirmation I am talking about
you, lord.
I thank you and I praise youfor your anointing that rests
(44:43):
here right now, in this moment.
Lord, bless your people as theymove from this place.
From this place, allow them topour out their love.
Allow them to pour out yourlove in our community this
coming week, father, lead them,guide them, direct them, lift up
(45:07):
their spirits when they're down.
Lord, we give you praise, honorand glory in the mighty name of
Jesus.
And the church says
Amen, amen, amen, thanks.
Dave's not here today, sosomebody has to watch out for me
so I don't get a broken neckright.
It is a guarantee that I willtrip over that truck.
Hey, how many of you know whoJohn Crist is?
Christian comedian?
No, not many of you.
Okay, so he has this bit wherehe talks about the different
(00:21):
styles of worship, and I'vetalked about this before.
You know, you've got the littlefish and then the big fish
carry the big screen.
Change the light bulb.
You know what I mean?
I've invented a new one.
I caught myself the other daydoing it and I was like do I do
that regularly?
I don't have my coffee cup.
I've invented the Statue ofLiberty.
This is how I, if you catch me,that, this is how I, if you
(00:44):
catch me, that's how I'm saying.
So that's my new, that's my newword.
That one's trademarked.
By the way, you can't have itAnyhow.
We're on a journey, a four-weekjourney, to get through who is
God and understanding the HolyTrinity.
So if you weren't here lastweek, you missed God the Father,
but today we're going to be inGod the Son.
So I wanted to just recap lastweek for a second and just
(01:04):
remind you that God is the onewhom we are praying to.
He is the one who created allthings, amen.
Our desire is to serve thekingdom and to please the Father
and to do all things unto God.
Right Now.
Here's the thing he knew thatwe were a sinful people.
And see, adam and Eve man.
They really messed it up for usbecause we could have been
(01:25):
living in the land of milk andhoney.
Right, we could have had all ofthe blessings.
Jess, you're back there all byyourself.
Like you got like this, likethis, what's going on over here
today?
I don't know, everybody squeezetogether, I don't know.
No, I'm kidding, it's justreally funny to me when I come
in some Sundays and some of thespots are completely empty,
(01:45):
right, so, like we've got a lotof people out today.
There's some people out forfamily reunion.
Unfortunately, we have a sickkid at home, so my wife is at
home with him this morning.
Dave is with family.
So, like you start to noticethere's little pockets missing.
But here's what I believe.
I believe God has called eachof you here today for this
message, right, he didn'tprepare it for no reason.
(02:07):
He prepared it so that youmight hear it, and so I want you
to just let's center ourselveson that.
Let's not worry about thethings that are missing or the
people who aren't here, orwhatever we may have in our
minds right now.
Let's just let that go, becauseI really want to focus in on
who Jesus is in our lives.
So our first passage ofscripture this morning is going
to be Colossians 1.
(02:29):
I think that's right.
Yes, colossians 1.15.
And it says Christ is thevisible image of the invisible
God.
He existed before anything wascreated and is the supreme over
all of creation.
(02:49):
Now, the first part of thattells us exactly who Jesus is.
Right, christ is the visibleimage of the invisible God.
Jesus was tangible, right.
The disciples could touch him.
The lady touched the hem of hisgarment.
He was a physical being of aninvisible God, a God that we
(03:10):
cannot see, and because wecannot see him, we oftentimes
don't understand him.
Amen.
Now I want you to think back tosome of the Old Testament stuff.
You know we talk a lot abouthow vengeful God was in the Old
Testament.
God was.
He was a jealous God.
He didn't like it when theIsraelites would run off and do
things that he didn't want themto do because he was jealous
(03:32):
over what he had created to begood and whole.
Amen, you guys, good, everybodyhere this morning.
We're awake, all right.
I'm believing that you'rereverent and not asleep.
That's what I'm believing today.
Amen, okay, what you do you,yeah, thanks.
Thanks a lot, dale, thanks alot, dale.
Our next passage of scripturethat I wanna read with you today
(03:54):
is John 14, nine.
It says Jesus replied I havebeen with you all this time,
philip, and yet you don't knowwho I am.
Anyone who has seen me has seenthe Father, so why are you
asking me to show him to you?
Amen.
So what's happening is Philipis asking Jesus to reveal God to
(04:19):
them, and Jesus' response isyou're looking at him?
Right, I am the embodiment ofwho God is.
Now, here's the thing.
We as a culture would hear thatphrase and say well, he's just
gaslighting us, right?
God's obviously not real.
He is trying to make himselfholy, amen, right.
(04:43):
Have you ever had somebody tellyou oh, you don't need to see
the proof, you just need totrust me.
How many times do we just trustthem?
Never is the correct answer.
In most situations, never isthe correct answer.
Why is that?
Because the world hasconditioned us that the world,
(05:08):
that people, cannot be trusted.
Right Now, there are some peopleI would trust with my life,
right, pastor Roger, pastorHolly, if they said to me hey, I
need you to do this, I'mprobably going to do it Good,
bad or indifferent, because Iknow that they've got my best
interest at heart.
And then there are some peoplewho are like, well, pastor
Michael, I'm your friend, whydon't you do this?
(05:29):
And I'm like I don't know ifwe're that close.
Right, because the world hasconditioned me that people will
disappoint me.
Every day, people willdisappoint me.
Now I'm gonna take a quickbreak from talking about Jesus
to talk about me.
Is that okay?
Good, I'm gonna do it anyway.
Here's the deal.
(05:51):
I realized that in my life Inever sit still.
My goal is to always go to thenext thing.
Anybody else like that.
Roger's already like.
He's thinking three projectsahead of me.
I've already got other stuffthat and he's losing his mind.
Glue my feet to the floorbecause he doesn't want me
moving anymore.
Here's the thing.
I've realized that God hascalled me to that path for a
(06:15):
reason.
It is to create greatness wherethere is not greatness.
Amen.
Now I'm not saying that I amgreat.
I am saying that he is greatand I am doing the work that he
has called me to do, amen,listen, don't get me wrong.
I know I can be dumber than abox of rocks, trust me, okay.
So I want to tell you this andagain, I'm not bragging, I'm
(06:35):
telling you because I need youto understand that when we trust
God and we believe in Jesus,great things will happen in our
lives, right?
Okay?
So here's the deal.
What has it been Over a monthjust over a month, something
like that that I lost my jobunexpectedly, right?
That was traumatizing, right, Ihadn't done anything wrong.
(06:56):
They're like, just, we weregoing a different direction.
See, ya, right, pound thepavement.
I was like I'm going home and Idon't even know where to go.
If I go home, I have to tell mywife what happened, right?
Okay?
So then, my wife, my wife, isso gracious.
If you guys don't know her, youshould meet her and you should
love her, because she is thenicest woman you will ever meet.
(07:18):
And she said to me it is notyour fault.
She said it's not your fault,I'm not upset with you, it's not
your fault.
But in all of that I said Idon't know what to do.
She said take some time, figureit out.
And so I started applying forjobs.
And if any of us have everapplied for jobs, sometimes you
just spam, apply for work right,like one click, apply, done
(07:39):
right, and you start gettingcalls and emails from people you
don't even remember applyingfor jobs for Anybody ever been
there.
Yes, okay, thank you Jesus.
So I lost my car because I had acompany car so I had to take it
back.
So we went to buy a car.
While we're in the dealership Iget a call from a lady who says
that she's with the FirstNational Bank of Denison and she
would like me to come in for aninterview the following day.
And I thought, well, I appliedfor a teller position at the
(08:02):
bank that ain't going to pay thebills, right, we know that.
So I walk into the interviewand they offer me a position
that was never posted and I'mlike great, wonderful, this
could potentially work.
I have been there for not quitefour weeks yet.
Not quite four weeks.
Last Thursday Thursday, I endedup Wednesday, something like
(08:24):
that, I don't remember what dayit was I end up in the office
with the bank president andthey're offering me a promotion.
Can I tell you something?
God is good In all things.
God is good.
See, I thought I was lost and Ithought that my life had been
upended.
And really, what he was sayingis I need you to trust me, Right
?
And in all of those, all ofthose times, we were continuing
(08:50):
to believe that God was going todo something great in our lives
, that God was going to move usfrom one season to.
I can yell louder than you, Ipromise, that God was moving us
from one season of life intoanother season of life, and I
didn't understand that move.
And I'll be honest with you, Istill don't understand that move
, but I trust what God hadcalled me to, amen, and I
(09:12):
believe that Jesus Christ isLord over my life, and because I
believe that he will continueto do great and mighty works.
Here's the thing I had to gothrough a valley.
Now, it was a short valley, butI had to go through it.
Right, see, some of our valleysare longer, but why is our
valley longer?
Because we stopped trustingJesus, right, see, we don't
(09:34):
believe that he is, in fact, theLord and Savior, that he is the
creator and the doer of allthings in our lives and instead
what we do is we start to blamehim for loss.
We talked about this at themen's meeting.
Sometimes you get in your ownway.
Sometimes you start to wrestlewith God and argue with God and
you start to blame Jesus for thedysfunction in your life.
(09:56):
But a lot of times those areour choices.
We are the one to blame forthat fault.
Listen, the enemy's got a lotof stuff going on, right.
He's got wars all over theplace, right.
He's got famine.
He's got nations that are justdestroyed.
He's got things to focus on.
He ain't worried about yourKrispy Kreme donuts.
(10:19):
Listen, that's your choice.
You broke your diet.
Don't blame the enemy.
Get back on the horse, right?
Amen, okay, all right, I'msorry.
When Philip asked Jesus, show usthe Father, and Jesus replied
anyone who has seen me has seenthe Father.
We have to understand what thatmeans.
Jesus is the clearest pictureof God we will ever see.
(10:42):
Amen.
Now understand what that means.
We don't have a photograph ofJesus, right?
We don't actually know whatJesus looks like.
We have an interpretation ofwhat Jesus looks like.
Amen.
Anybody ever seen him?
No, anybody get a selfie withhim?
(11:03):
No, if I do.
I'm getting mine autographed.
It doesn't be worth something.
But because we have never seenhis face doesn't mean we haven't
seen him.
We've seen his goodness, andthat's what matters.
See, that's what we should befocused on.
We've seen the goodness of Godthrough the sacrifice of his son
(11:26):
, jesus Christ.
Right?
So here's the thing.
We look at God as a God who isjealous over us, but he is so
jealous over our relationshipwith him that he would send his
one and only begotten son to dieon a cross so that you and I
might have everlasting life.
(11:47):
Salvation did not come for free.
There was a cost.
That cost was the life of JesusChrist.
Now the son is the one whoreveals the father.
Amen.
Jesus didn't just talk about whoGod was.
He didn't talk about who Godwas.
(12:09):
He showed us who God wasthrough love and compassion.
Think about all of the timesthat Jesus was defending the
weak and the poor right.
He was no respecter of persons.
It didn't matter if you were awoman, it didn't matter if you
were a Samaritan, it didn'tmatter who you were to Jesus, he
(12:31):
wanted goodness in your life.
There are people sitting inthis sanctuary today and people
sitting in our community whodon't truly know just how good
Jesus is, because they see usbroken people trying to pour out
Jesus into a broken community.
Amen, jesus wasn't broken.
(12:54):
He was perfect and so when helooked at a broken person, he
gave them love and compassion.
Do we do the same thing?
We try, or at least I hope wetry right.
We look at a broken people andwe think, man, they did not
decide that this would be theirlife.
(13:15):
Something happened that wasbeyond our comprehension.
Listen, I've never been analcoholic.
I've never been addicted todrugs.
I can't look at somebody who'saddicted to drugs and say that
they're a loser.
I have to look at them and saythey are losing right now, but
they will have victory.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Listen, we have to change ouroutlook on the world so that the
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world can change its outlook onus.
Right, if I want every personto hear the gospel of Jesus
Christ and to be able to inheritthe kingdom of heaven, like I'm
going to, I have to be willingto show love and mercy in all
things.
Thank you, I don't know how youcan't get excited about that,
(13:58):
listen.
Well, maybe you're not excitedbecause you can't show love and
mercy.
Maybe that's why you can't getexcited.
I was thinking the other night.
I told you guys this once andforgive me for sharing it again,
but sometimes I sit around andI think about how I could ruin
other people's lives.
Right Like, I know things aboutpeople I probably shouldn't
(14:21):
know.
And one text message you justbring that house of cards to the
ground.
Amen.
Any of you know that stuffabout people, right, listen,
last night I was sitting in myroom and I was running through
my sermon notes and I said Lord,just give me some direction
with this.
He's like, you know how youalways say that.
He's like stop saying that andbless those people.
(14:41):
And I'm like but God, isn't itfun to have some of that power?
And he says isn't it fun to benice?
And I say but God, isn't it fun?
And he just kept and listen.
Here's the problem that I have.
(15:04):
Sometimes my flesh takes over,right, I've been.
Listen.
We went to Steak and Shake lastnight.
There is no worse place to eatthan Steak and Shake.
If I'm going to be honest withyou, listen, I don't mind the
food, but what happened to Steakand Shake?
Steak and Shake you used to goin.
Sit down at the table.
The waitress would come overand take your order and then
she'd bring you your food right.
And at the end of my meal Icould order my milkshake and
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they would bring it to me andthen I could leave fat and sassy
right.
But here's the thing Nowthey've got kiosks and that's it
.
You don't even get to talk to aperson anymore.
At Steak and Shake, you walk inand they're like welcome to
Steak and Shake from behind thegrill.
They don't care that you'rethere because they're collecting
a paycheck regardless, right,guys?
(15:46):
The church is the same way.
We're sitting in this seathoping to collect a paycheck.
The same way we're hoping toinherit the kingdom of God, but
we don't care about the peoplewho aren't with us, right?
We aren't worried about theworld.
When they walk in, we're like,hey, welcome to church.
And we don't hear it.
We don't talk to them everagain, right?
We don't concern ourselves withwhat are their needs.
(16:08):
We don't concern ourselves withhow do we show Christ in all
things.
Instead, we focus on what wewant.
Okay, we're gonna have a littlegame.
You ready?
Imagine for a second that I wereto tell you that the person
that you thought was your fatherwas not actually your father,
(16:30):
and I started describing yourfather to you and I tell you all
of the things about him andthen when you finally meet him
face to face, he's nothing likewhat I've described.
That's disappointing, right?
That would be incrediblydisappointing.
See, the problem is, is that'swhat the church is doing about
(16:51):
god?
Because we're not showing jesus, we're describing him in a way
that is not attainable.
What do I mean by that, pastormichael?
What do you mean?
That we are describing jesus asa way that's not attainable?
You're making him sound notattainable.
You're making him sound like agenie.
You're making him sound likeall of your cares will disappear
when you accept him as yourLord and Savior.
(17:13):
That's not how that works,right?
The closer you get to God, themore struggles you will
experience.
Why don't you experiencestruggles whenever you're
distant from God?
Enemy doesn't have, he doesn'thave any need to work on you.
You're already doing it, right,you're already living in the
world, living for him.
(17:33):
But when you accept JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior,
the enemy says well, I don'treally wanna let that one go.
So here I come, and he comes inhot and he comes in strong, you
know.
So here I come and he comes inhot and he comes in strong.
You walk into the church and yousay, hey, I'm gonna start
giving 10% of my income to thechurch because that's what God
has called me to do.
Then, all of a sudden, youain't got a job anymore.
(17:54):
Right?
I told you guys this.
I'll tell you again, because Igenuinely believe that this is
why God is so faithful.
In my household, when I lost myjob, we continued to tithe on
what I should be making, not onwhat I am making.
Right?
Do you know how that hurts?
That's a lot of money to justgive away when you ain't got it
coming in.
But here's what I said God willbless us because of it.
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It may not be a financialblessing.
It may just be good enoughhealth to get up and go to work
in the morning, right, amen.
It may be enough money to justmake the car the juice right out
(18:51):
of it, hallelujah.
So whenever you guys go back andlisten to this live stream,
you're gonna be like whathappened there, you'll know.
You'll know Jesus needs to beintroduced to people as our Lord
and Savior, as the one whointroduces us to the Father.
(19:16):
Right?
We need to understand that noman shall inherit the kingdom
except through Jesus Christ.
Right?
Okay, the son is eternal.
John 1, 1.
Oh, I forgot, I'm doing slidesup here.
I forgot about that.
I'm multitasking today.
In the beginning, the wordalready existed.
The word was with God and theword was God.
(19:38):
He existed in the beginningwith God.
God created everything throughhim and nothing, nothing was
created except through him.
Okay, through him.
Him, he is Jesus.
Right, jesus existed with theword, with God, before man was
(19:58):
created.
And when man was created, itwas created through Jesus Christ
.
Right?
So now let's do that mathbackwards.
Any of you guys good at likemath that has like X's and Y's
in it?
I don't understand that stuff.
Why'd they ever do that to us?
I don't think I've ever used itonce in my life, mainly because
I have Google now and I justlike hey, google, figure this
out for me, right?
(20:19):
Anyhow, let's do that mathbackwards.
The only way to get back to Godis through Jesus.
It's simple math, right?
Add it, subtract it.
Listen, the son existed beforewe existed and he will exist
long after we don't exist.
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Amen, god is not going anywhere, only we will go somewhere.
Now we also have to rememberthat God is omnipresent.
That means he is everywhere allat the same time.
So when he rests in this place,he also rests everywhere else.
So when you go places that youought not go, shall I remind you
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Jesus is there, and I only wantto go into places that I can
take Jesus with me, right?
I don't want to go into barsand into nightclubs and places
where, if Jesus were in there inthe flesh, people would
question why he's there.
I only want to go to placesthat uplift and exalt and
(21:29):
glorify Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The son took on flesh.
In John 1, 14, it said so theword became human and made his
home among us.
He was full of unfailing loveand faithfulness and we have
(21:52):
seen his glory, the glory of theFather's one and only Son.
Hallelujah.
So the word became flesh.
Jesus came to the earth inorder to sacrifice his life so
that we might have everlastinglife.
Amen.
What does everlasting life meanto you?
(22:14):
Forever and ever, this issomething that is never going to
not exist, amen.
So when I go to heaven, I wantto be well when I die, let's put
it that way.
I ain't looking to get thereright away, but if I were to go.
Right now, my hope is in heaven.
Right, that is where my desirelays, but so many of us don't
(22:41):
worry about what it takes to getthere.
That relationship with the sunis what creates the opening into
heaven.
Right, you can do good things,you can be a nice person, you
can talk kindly to one another,you can do all of the nice
things, but that fruit does notget you into heaven.
A relationship with JesusChrist is the only thing that
(23:02):
will get you into heaven.
Believing that Jesus Christ isyour Lord and Savior, that he
was born of a virgin, died on across, was buried for three days
, rose again and that he isreturning, is your only hope of
salvation.
Amen, that is it.
That is it.
Now.
Here's the thing that gift isgiven freely.
(23:24):
There is no requirement toreceive.
You can say a prayer, you cando all of those things.
Those are for you.
Those are for you to haveconfidence in what it is that
you're accepting in your life.
Listen, I know a lot of, as amatter of fact, myself.
When I got saved, nobody said aprayer with me.
There wasn't some life change.
(23:46):
The light bulb didn't come on.
I stood in that chair.
I sat right there and I justwept and I knew that I had to
give my life to Jesus in orderto be saved, right, in order to
have everyone I knew.
But that was through arelationship with Christ.
That wasn't through arelationship with people.
Right, I had a body ofbelievers who were praying for
me and believing that God wouldchange my heart, and when he did
(24:08):
, they were excited for me.
Right, they were excited for me, but nobody was getting me
there except for me.
I had to know who Jesus was andaccept him for who he was.
How many of you guys have seenAladdin?
That's one of my favoriteDisney movies, right?
(24:33):
Let's be honest with you.
The 90s Disney movies are farsuperior than any other Disney
series.
Like, don't start with me, Dale, I'll fist fight you right now.
The Lion King, the LittleMermaid, all of those movies
were far superior than any ofthis new Pixar stuff.
And here's the reason becausethe storylines were better.
Right, listen, dale, we'regoing to square up buddy when I
(24:58):
watch Aladdin.
When I watch Aladdin one of thescenes that I always am amazed
by, and mainly because I thinkas a kid I didn't question it,
but then as an adult, I'm likethat didn't make any sense
really, right.
I think it's the beauty ofbeing a child.
It's that child like faithJasmine the princess.
She goes out into themarketplace because she's never
(25:20):
been allowed to leave the palacewalls right.
So she changes her clothes, sheputs on this old what do you
call that thing that she put on?
Yeah, you know what it is.
Anyhow, you know what it is.
Let's just say that she didn'tlook like a princess.
So she goes out into themarketplace and she's talking to
all of these people and somehowgets herself into trouble and
(25:40):
Aladdin comes to her rescue andthen they arrest Aladdin and she
flips off the hat and she says,by order of the princess,
release him.
Do you think that if we were totruly look around, jesus walks
among us daily.
Now, I'm not saying he's goingto flip his top back and say, in
(26:03):
the name, you know what I mean,but I'm saying that every
interaction that we have withsomebody, we should be Jesus
right, because in the name ofJesus, you will be healed.
By order of the princess, byorder of King Jesus.
You will be healed by order ofKing Jesus.
You will be set free by orderof King.
(26:23):
Listen, you guys ain't gettingexcited.
Can I tell you that if we trulybelieve that Jesus was a chain
breaker, if Jesus could set usfree, that we could get excited
about it.
Listen, listen, I'm going totell you right now.
If we believed it, we wouldhave a much healthier community
that we lived in right.
If we truly believed that, wewould be in nursing home
(26:47):
ministries, we would be out inthe street, we would be visiting
the homeless and we would beproclaiming the name of Jesus
over the lives of those people.
Don't get me wrong.
Some of those people ain'tgonna accept him, not the first
time, maybe not the second time,maybe not the second time,
maybe not the third time, maybenot the 10th time.
But the only way for them toknow who Jesus is is for us to
(27:13):
show him and to walk out whatJesus lived for.
Amen.
Whoo the son is the one whoredeemed us Romans 5, 8.
But God showed his great lovefor us by sending Christ to die
(27:34):
for us while we were stillsinners.
We are still sinners today,many of us sitting in this room
knowing that we are sinners,knowing that we actively partake
in things that separate us fromthe will of God, and yet we
(28:04):
don't quite understand.
Why would we not want to acceptthat salvation, repent and turn
from our sins and live solelyfor the kingdom of God?
Why wouldn't we want to do that?
Because we're selfish.
We are selfish beings andhaving things that make us look
(28:28):
good and feel good, and all ofthis, that's what we're focused
on.
Amen.
I don't know about you.
I like the finer things in life.
Steak and shake is not one ofthem.
The only reason we ended upthere yesterday was because
that's where my son wanted to gofor his 16th birthday dinner.
I will take you anywhere youwant to eat and you are picking
(28:49):
steak and shake Now in hisdefense for his birthday.
We've eaten at Denny's Jerry's.
He just doesn't have very goodtaste.
I guess I don't know, but Ilike the finer things in life.
(29:11):
Right?
I shouldn't pick on Jerry'sbecause my oldest son's down
here shaking his leg like he'llfist fight me over Jerry's.
This boy loves some Jerry's.
I don't know, man, I like thefiner things in life and so I
have to balance that with mylove for Jesus.
Right, because I can chaseriches in the world.
I can store up all of thosethings here, right?
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Anybody know anybody with astorage shed full of stuff that
they don't really need, thatthey don't really need.
I said it on purpose.
She's like I don't know anybody.
I need all of that stuff.
Everything in there is useful,right, everything is useful.
We build up riches here onearth, but we don't build up
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riches in heaven Because, see,we don't.
Pastor Holly, I know you buildup riches in heaven, but not
everybody does, right?
We collect all of the things onearth.
I just watched a documentaryabout the ruby red slippers.
Anybody seen that documentaryyet?
You should watch it.
It's a lot of fun.
The ruby red slippers that werestolen from a museum in
(30:18):
Wisconsin or something like that, sold for $20 million.
What could you do with $20million?
A lot of stuff, right Now.
Here's the thing Somebody had$20 million to spend on shoes.
I'm not giving you any ideas.
(30:39):
I'm not giving you any idea.
What size do you wear?
Oh, those were only a five anda half.
They wouldn't have done you anygood, darn.
Next time they come up forauction, I'll bid on them for
you.
Okay, $20 million.
Imagine what you can do in thekingdom of God for $20 million.
Imagine the people that you canreach, the Bibles that you can
(31:02):
hand out.
Imagine what you can do for $20million.
That means somebody had thatmoney to spend on a pair of
shoes.
And my question is are theybuilding up riches on earth or
are they building up riches inheaven?
Amen.
There's nothing wrong withhaving nice things.
There's nothing wrong withbeing able to pay your bills and
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doing all of the wonderfulthings.
People love to vacation, that'sokay.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong withhaving a car payment.
There's nothing wrong withhaving money.
The problem is is do you lovethat money more than you love
your Lord and Savior, jesusChrist?
That's the question that wehave to ask, because we
understand that Jesus came toredeem us right.
So if I have something to focuson, it is not the cash in my
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bank account, it is my Lord andSavior, jesus Christ, because he
has redeemed me.
That money has done nothing forme, but buy me things right To
try to fill a void somewhere inmy life, but at the end of the
day, the only thing filling thatvoid is Jesus Christ, amen.
So when he came to redeem me,he came to die on a cross.
You know, jesus knew that thatwas going to happen to him, that
(32:10):
was revealed to him, he sharedit with the disciples and the
disciples didn't understand andthey said no, lord, he would
speak to them and they didn'tunderstand.
We've read it, we know that ithappened and yet we still don't
accept it as our salvation, asthe thing that has created us
whole and new.
Amen.
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The resurrection is proof of onevery important thing Death
doesn't win.
Death cannot win.
It's impossible.
I don't understand why we can'tget excited about that.
I know that, should the lordtarry, I will taste a physical
death.
Right, my body will die and gointo the ground.
(32:56):
That will happen.
My wife and I are arguing aboutlife insurance right now.
Right, right, because you buywhole life insurance, you buy
term life insurance.
Dave Ramsey says term is theonly way to go right.
But I've got a whole lifepolicy.
I've been paying on for so longthat it's built cash value.
But the problem is it's notnearly as much as a term life
policy would be.
I can get a million dollars interm life for the same price
(33:18):
that I'm paying for $150,000worth of whole life policy same
price that I'm paying for$150,000 worth of whole life
policy.
But the problem is the term life.
Who said that?
You're right, the term lifewears out.
It's a 30-year policy.
Now my kids think I'm old,pastor Roger, how old are you?
(33:45):
75.
That's old Anyhow.
A 30-year policy will only takeme to about 70 years old.
Well, we know, pastor Roger canlive to 75, right, so chances
are.
So what happens if I die afterthat?
Roger can live to 75, right, sochances are.
So what happens if I die afterthat?
There's nothing there, right?
(34:06):
There's nothing there.
And so the question becomeswhat is the right answer?
Here's the right answer Believein Jesus.
Right, I need my house to bepaid off, and that is it,
because all I need to do isenough money to put me put this
body in the ground, because Ialready know that I am better
off dead than I am alive.
Amen, quite frankly, if I get aterm policy too big, I might be
(34:27):
better off dead to my wife.
So, just trying to think thisthrough and be a little logical,
y'all.
Anyhow, this is something thisis as I was.
I had to Google an illustrationbecause I couldn't come up with
(34:48):
something that would make methink of or make me explain to
you what this is like.
So imagine you've donesomething horrendous and you're
in court and the judge finds youguilty.
Right, he says you're guilty,you're going to jail, and after
he says it, he steps off of theroad or off of the platform, he
takes off his robe and he servesthe sentence for you.
(35:08):
That's a real life situationthat you can comprehend.
That's what Jesus did for us.
Right, he was blameless.
He wasn't the sinner at all,that was us.
So he steps down from heaven tohang on the cross so that we
(35:30):
could have everlasting life.
He served a sentence that wewould never be able to serve.
I can promise you, not one ofus would have been strong enough
to hang on a cross and simplysay it is finished.
We would have been begging andpleading.
Jesus went willingly.
(35:50):
Amen, amen, amen.
The son reigns as king.
If we look at Philippians 2, 9,it says, therefore, god elevated
him to the place of highesthonor and gave him the name,
(36:12):
above all other names, that atthe name of Jesus, every knee
should bow in heaven and onearth and under the earth, and
every tongue declare that JesusChrist is Lord to the glory of
God, the Father.
He is not just our Savior, butthe Lord over our lives.
(36:39):
He is not just our Savior.
So when we are doing somethingin the world, we should be
focused on what Jesus would haveus do and not what we would
want to do ourselves.
Now here's the thing you haveto understand and be able to
discern that voice, that stillsmall voice of Jesus speaking to
(36:59):
you.
Amen, because when Jesus speaks, you hear and then you say I
don't think that was Jesus Right.
Sometimes we hear Jesus say youprobably shouldn't do that.
I'm going to tell you, was itlast year?
We were all going to thatBrandon Lake concert.
We were all were all going tothat Brandon Lake concert.
We were all supposed to go to aBrandon Lake concert.
It was a huge group of us.
I had bought some tickets for agroup and then at the last
(37:23):
minute, our babysitter canceledon us.
The very last I'm talking verylast minute.
We scrambled, we looked, wetried, we hoped and we could not
find anybody to keep the kids.
And so my wife and I decidedwe're going to give our tickets
away and we are going to stayhome.
And when we did that we thought, man, what a disappointment,
right, it's like $120 in tickets.
(37:44):
And we just like that was areal bummer.
I got a call the next day fromthe person I'd gifted the
tickets to and they said Ireally needed that, my
relationship with God justhasn't been the same and I
really needed to be in thepresence of the Holy Spirit.
It wasn't about me, right, itwasn't about me, it was about
(38:07):
the glory of the kingdom.
And I was thankful that my wifeand I were obedient to that
still small voice that just saidstay home, and to that still
small voice that said hand overthe tickets to this person.
See, we didn't get blessed fromthat in any physical way, but
(38:27):
somebody else got blessedthrough it and we accepted that
blessing as our blessing as well, that God had given us the
ability to purchase thosetickets and to gift them.
My wife and I have been lookingforward to that for quite some
time to just not get to go, butwe knew God was doing something
good.
Anyway, he is not just oursavior, but he is our Lord.
(38:49):
He is the still small voice, heis the beating of our heart.
He should be all of the thingsthat we feel inside.
They should be good and whole,because that's where Jesus lives
.
Right, you know, there are alot of our young kids if you ask
them where Jesus lives in myheart.
Right, as adults, we know that.
We've been taught that inSunday school, but we don't know
(39:11):
how to live that right, becauseour heart posture is dark and
dated and it's hard and it'sjust not positive and we have to
be able to adjust that in orderto show Jesus in the world
every day.
Now, this is the important partJesus's name, the name of Jesus,
that's who we pray in.
(39:32):
We pray in the name of Jesus toGod, the Father.
We understand that In the nameof Jesus and we speak things in
the name of Jesus, because heintercedes for us at the right
hand of the Father, right, andI'm thankful every day that he
intercedes and he accounts formy stupidity Fair way to say it.
(39:53):
Right, because we all knowwe're going to fall short of the
glory of God and oftentimesit's in a really dumb way.
I'm the only one.
That's fine.
I'm okay with being the onlydumb one in the room, y'all.
God has done some big things inmy life, but because I am
stupid, he's like I'm going tostop you from doing that so that
(40:16):
you can do this instead.
And then he blesses me and thenturns around and blesses
somebody and listen.
If he can work through this hotmess, he can certainly work
through any of you.
I promise you he is norespecter of persons.
There is nobody sitting in thisroom that is less than any
person who ever stands in apulpit.
There have been unfoldings inchurches in our area that I'll
(40:39):
tell you this.
I will tell you this there isno person less than those people
.
When God moves in your life, heis calling you to something
great, amen.
Now there are some of you whomaybe haven't accepted Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Maybe there are some of youwho've been sitting in this room
(41:00):
that have known Jesus yourentire life.
Maybe there are some of you whoare going.
I think I know who Jesus is, butI don't fully get it.
Let's talk about it, because ifyou aren't confident in your
relationship with Christ, thenwe have to ask what does heaven
look like?
I want each and every one ofyou there Now.
(41:21):
I don't know how it's gonnawork.
I don't know if I'm gonnarecognize you, some of you.
I hope I don't.
I'm kidding.
Some of you are hoping thatabout me too.
I'm sure At the end of the day,we should all get to the
kingdom of heaven, amen.
But we have to understand howwe get there, and that is
through Jesus and no other way.
(41:42):
Jesus is more than a teacher ora prophet.
He is the eternal son of God,who stepped into humanity, died
for our sins, rose in victoryand reigns forever.
He is your savior and your Lord.
The question is not who isJesus.
The question is who is Jesus toyou?
(42:03):
The question is who is Jesus toyou?
So I want to have a call toaction and I just want to say
this that, as we continue totalk through this last portion
of the sermon, dan, can you turnup that prayer music for me
just a little bit?
If you have never trusted Jesusas your savior, I want to
(42:25):
encourage you to make today thatday.
If you have known him as yourLord and savior but you have
stepped away from him, I want toencourage you today to retake
that relationship.
Amen.
If you're sitting in this roomand you say I know who Jesus is,
but I've never been able tofind relationship with him, I've
(42:47):
never been able to understandwhat Jesus can do in my life, I
want you to just pray about thattoday and I wanna be able to
pray with you.
Let's just bow our heads andwe're gonna pray together.
Father, in the mighty name ofJesus, I thank you that every
heart in this building isprepared to receive you.
(43:10):
Lord, the hearts that haveknown you forever.
Refresh them, give them aburning desire to seek you more
frequently.
Lord and Lord, for those whoare sitting in this room who
have never accepted you as theirLord and Savior, I pray that
you stir them up today.
Allow your warmth to fill theirbody, lord.
(43:36):
Allow them to be able to feelyou, to know you, to be able to
touch you.
Lord, I believe that right now,as we're sitting in this place,
(43:57):
that there are some of you whoare saying this is something
I've never experienced before.
And if you are accepting JesusChrist as your Lord and Savior
right now, I want you to, justat the end of this service, just
find Pastor Roger.
Pastor Roger, I'm gonna haveyou of this service.
Just find Pastor Roger.
Pastor Roger, I'm gonna haveyou.
Come up front.
Just find Pastor Roger and tellhim so that we can connect with
(44:20):
you, because I want to be ableto share how great Jesus is and
how wonderful he will be in yourlife.
I know that there are peoplesitting here right now saying I
think he's talking about me, butI don't know.
Allow this to be yourconfirmation I am talking about
you, lord.
I thank you and I praise youfor your anointing that rests
(44:43):
here right now, in this moment.
Lord, bless your people as theymove from this place.
From this place, allow them topour out their love.
Allow them to pour out yourlove in our community this
coming week, father, lead them,guide them, direct them, lift up
(45:07):
their spirits when they're down.
Lord, we give you praise, honorand glory in the mighty name of
Jesus.
And the church says
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