Read-along
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Hey. How's it going? Oh, wow. Alright. Everyone's a light alert, awake enthusiastic. Awesome. We can jump in here as we finish this series on rebrand as we've been looking through the last couple chapters of up to chapter 11 we'll be in today of Romans. And as we look at chapter 11 of Romans and talk about what this means,
I'm reminded of a story that happened when I was playing baseball back when I was younger. And I was on a team, my dad was our coach. And honestly, there was me and my friend were by far the best players on the team. And I was by far better than my friend.
Now I don't usually make myself the good guy in this story, don't worry. This goes horribly wrong in just a second. And so we're playing, and our team, we were in a game we should've been winning easily, but it's a close game now. We're down a little bit. And my friend and I were getting really ticked off at our lesser
ability teammates. So instead of acting like leaders or acting like teammates, we acted very individualistic and very antagonistic.
And we're like chewing on our teammates, being mad, weren't cheering for them. We even sat by ourselves at the end of the dugout because we were so torqued at them just not doing their job because why couldn't they be as great as we obviously were. And so
we had this one inning. We start to walk back out onto the field, and as we were the last ones at the bench, come out. My dad just puts his arm across the dugout opening. He goes, not you two.
What? You two knuckleheads are benched. Go sit on the bench. We're like, why would you sit on bench? We're down by one run. We're the only hope this team has to win. And he goes, not only on that, he goes, he put in two kids that are substitutes.
And he's like, he replaced us with the two people on the team that were even worse than the other guys we were complaining about. So it not only, it went backwards. And we kinda argued with my dad. He was like, hey, you sit over there and think about how this game is for you, but it ain't about you. We went and sat down.
We moaned about it and complained and sat there licking our wounds and being frustrated, not paying attention to the game. And then my friend looks at me after a few minutes. He goes, hey, Think you're think think think your dad may be right?
And I look at him and I go, of course he's right. I already know that. He's my dad though. I don't wanna give him the satisfaction. Still sat there kinda complaining. And then we thought about it. It was like, but if he is right, we do kinda wanna be back in the game. What should we do?
Well, should we just go apologize? Well, yeah. But what we really should do is just start acting like teammates whether we're in the game or not. So we started cheering for the team and we started doing that, so then my dad finally, the last inning,
he's like, alright, you're back, Aaron. And we did end up winning the game.
It was a learning experience for me about how, hey, you know what, sometimes when there's something it's for you but it's not about you. And in that moment when you forget that, in that moment when we're not doing what we should be doing, we got benched.
That is pretty much what Paul is trying to say about Israel in Romans chapter 11.
See, we've been looking through nine through 11 the last few weeks. We've been kinda going fast because chapter eight is like this crescendo moment in Romans when he's trying to explain the gospel and saying here's how we're justified. We're made right by God because of God. It's what Jesus did. Our salvation is for us, but it's really not about us. It's about God's love for us. And he says because you remember the victory you have because of what Jesus did, all you have to do is surrender to that and put your faith in that, and then he helps grow us and change us as we surrender to the Holy Spirit. And listen, he goes, you have to understand something. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.
Because when we get legalistic and think it's my good works, get worried. And he says nothing can separate you. And then that brings on this question from this church that's not Jewish, they're mainly Gentiles. And they kinda say, well you say nothing can separate us from God's love. But what about you Jews?
You are God's chosen people. When this game started, the only people on the team were Jews. And now he's kicked you guys off the team. So if you say that you can trust his faithfulness to his promises and nothing will separate us, isn't Israel an example of that's not true?
And what he does in these three chapters, chapter nine looked at Israel's past, chapter 10 looked at his present, chapter 11 now talks about the future, is what he's saying is, no, you got it all wrong. Israel is not an example of God's unfaithfulness. It is the greatest example of God's faithfulness.
That if you look at what he's done all the way through in their story, he keeps his promises. And today he looks towards the future and what he's gonna kind of explain in this chapter is, you got it wrong. Israel is not off the team. Matter of fact, you'll see in a moment, there's still some players on the field.
He says, but they are on the bench.
And if if if them getting benched allowed you Gentiles to get into the game, which is a blessing, how much more incredible is it gonna be when God says, hey, Israel, you're back in the game. And we're all in the game. It's gonna be an amazing moment.
And so basically what he's answering in this final chapter is this kind of a big idea. It's simply this, is that God is faithful, don't be fearful. And look, know, punctuation matters. This means you're supposed to yell, right? So it's like, God is faithful. Don't be fearful.
But here's the problem. Just like these Gentile Christians that had this question, like, can we really trust? Because you get through life, life seems tough, it's not working the way you want. There's pain, there's fear, there's a lot of scary things happening in the world. We get a little bit confused. Scary things happen in our life, things that are weird. And when you look at it, you look at We might be looking at Israel's example, but we look at our life as an example, and we might be a little bit fearful. And so we would say, what you think I just said is this.
God is faithful? Don't be fearful. And if you don't understand that difference, that's all you're gonna hear today. Because I'm gonna get loud, and we're gonna talk about this, and I'm just gonna be me, and you're gonna think that because you're doubting, I'm screaming at you. That's not the truth. It's God is faithful.
So don't be fearful. Make sense? So here's what we're gonna do a little bit different. It's gonna be a little bit weird. Even the way we end the service could be little bit different. But here's what I wanna do. I just wanna tell you what the first 32 verses are about. And And then I'm gonna just read them. All 32 verses.
Paul says it better than I do. And I just want you to reflect on God's word of what he's saying. But to let you know what you're about to read is the first 32 verses is split into kinda two points he's making.
The first 10 verses is you got it wrong. God is faithful and Israel's the greatest example. Because he says, they're not really out of the game. They're benched. And he goes, and they're only partially benched. The first 10 verses is there
are this thing called the remnant. All through Israel's history on the future, every time it looks like God's punished Israel, cut them off, sends them into captivity or anything, there's always a remnant. And he goes, there's a remnant right now. And Paul even uses himself as example. Who's the one writing this to you?
I, Paul, am a Jew, and I'm the pitcher in this game. So he's like, I'm still it's not all of Israel. And then the second point is this, and it's only temporary. There's gonna come a time where God is gonna fulfill every promise he made to Israel, and he's gonna call that remnant back into the game.
The rest of the remnant. Make sense? So I just wanna read that and just make I am gonna comment on two different phrases because that might go, well, does that seem to be contradictory to what you just said? And no. So here we go. Let's listen to God's word. Let it speak to us. Chapter 11.
Not bankruptcy. Romans chapter 11. When you feel bankrupt, read Romans chapter 11. There you go. I asked then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not.
I myself an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. No, God has not rejected his own people whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what scriptures say about this? Elijah,
prophet, complained to God about the people of Israel and said, Lord, they've killed your prophets, torn down your altars, and I'm the only one left, and now they're trying to kill me too. It was a pity party. And do you remember what God's reply? He said, nope, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal. You're one of a big chunk of remnant.
They're not all out. He goes, it is the same today. For a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God's grace, his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God's kindness, then it is not by their good works.
For in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is, free and undeserved. It's the same for us. So this is the sitch, he says.
This is the situation. Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. Why? Because they're trying to do it on their own. Their own legalism, they're prideful, they think it's all about them. They think it's because we're Jews, we're automatically in.
He goes, a few have, the ones God has chosen, but the hearts of the rest were hardened. The scriptures say, God has put them in a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see. He's closed their ears so they do not hear. Likewise, David said, let their bountiful table become a snare, a trap that makes them think all is well. Let their blessings cause them to stumble and let them get what they deserve. Their eyes go blind so they cannot see and their backs be bent forever. Saying their pride, they're clueless, God's benched them.
And maybe they'll see when they watch the Gentiles come in. When you watch the game, who knows? But right now they're benched. He goes, did God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not. They were disobedient so God made salvation available to the Gentiles.
But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles were enriched because of God's people of Israel turned down God's offer of salvation, they wouldn't put their faith in Christ. Think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.
He goes, I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles. He loved these people. He was called to reach these people. But look what he says. I stress this,
for I want somehow to make the people of Israel jealous of what you gentiles have so I might save something. He's like, hey, I love you guys, but I have another agenda too. I'm hoping that the more of you come, it'll wake up them and go, you realize you're on the sidelines. You're benched. You're not really in this game.
For since their rejection meant that God offered
salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will even be more wonderful. It'll be life for those who are dead. He's referring to that valley of dry bones story in the Old Testament. And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy, just as their entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be too. But some of these branches from Abraham's tree, some of the people of Israel have been broken off. And you Gentiles who were branches from a wild olive tree have been grafted in. You were assigned to the team.
So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing the rich nourishment from the root of God's special olive tree. But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You're just a branch. You're not the root.
It's like the two guys that went into play for me and my friend. Did they, oh, look at how awesome we are. Nope, you're only in because we were out. And he says sometimes he's saying don't brag. The point he's trying to make to us as the church now is don't make the same mistake Israel made.
They assume they're all in just because they're Jewish. And God said Spiritual Israel was never everyone who was a Jew.
And if you get cocky and don't do the mission and don't trust me and disobey me, you're gonna go off all cattywampus and you're gonna start to have people they try to follow God for his love. You try to be legalistic. You don't surrender to the love of Christ. You don't surrender to the Holy Spirit.
He says, Don't get cocky. He goes, So don't think as highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. For God did not spare the original branches, he won't spare you either. What are you saying, don't fear? Didn't I just say, God is faithful, don't be fearful?
Here's what you gotta understand. When I say fearful, don't hear what I'm not saying. If we're gonna put our faith in Christ and trust him, we're gonna have a lot of fears. You thought that I said is, hey, if God is faithful, you shouldn't have any fear. That's not what I mean. We will have fears.
Fearful means that's all you have. You fearful means you are letting your fears make your decisions.
You're not letting faith make your decisions. You're not letting God's word guide you. You are making your decisions out of your fears, which is a disobedience and a lack of trust of God. You don't trust God's faithfulness,
and we become arrogant. You become cocky things, just like Israel. It's about us, it's for us, and it's by us. And therefore, if it's about me, I don't like this, I'm gonna do this, I'm not gonna trust God.
I'm fearful. I'm letting the fear make the decisions. What he's talking about fear here is we should fear the Lord. And the fear of the Lord means is I care about I trust God's faithfulness. I trust his awesomeness.
That I know this sounds scary to go this way. I know this doesn't For me, I'm a little bit afraid, but God is faithful and he called me this way. He called me to trust Christ, so I'm gonna step out that way.
And he says, don't let fear make your decisions. He says, notice how God is both kind and severe. He takes sin serious, but he is merciful and loving and just. He is severe towards those who disobey, but kind to you if you continue to trust his kindness.
But if you stop trusting, you'll also be cut off. And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. You by nature were a branch cut off from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into this cultivated tree,
he'll be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong. He's not talking about disobedience gets you unsaved. He's talking about this disobedience of you never really put your faith in Christ. And Israel needs to turn back and put their faith in Christ. The remnant,
talking about himself as one of them, that's still in the game, is he put his faith in Christ. If you misread this, think he's like, oh, so if I disobey, I'm out. Doesn't that contradict?
It will never separate. He's not talking about the everyday disobey. He's talking about stay on mission with me. Trust me. But the reality is you need to look in your heart and say, have you truly surrendered? That it's about God, not me. And it's Jesus that saves me, not me.
He says, I want you to understand this mystery. I'll explain the mystery in a minute. Dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud of yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ.
And so all of Israel will be saved, as the scriptures say. What's this all of Israel?
So now does that mean everyone? Just because you said there's some that aren't, they've been broken off, and then they'll come back in. He's not talking about every individual. Mean, he says all of Israel will be saved. There's two things he's talking about here. One is there's this sense of spiritual Israel.
And in the Old Testament, even says, like in the book of Judges, all of Israel did what was right in their own eyes. It means they just didn't listen to God. But there was a remnant even then. So when it says all, it doesn't really mean all. It says, as a whole, all do this. And so he says in the end, as a whole,
lot of Israelites are gonna come back to Christ. He also means all of Israel will be saved is because God made a covenant with Israel that wasn't just spiritual. The covenant he has with us is the spiritual thing. He made an actual covenant and called them out to be a nation.
A nation, a God that God was to be the king of. And so he says, and in the end, I'll talk about this in a minute about this mystery, is in the end Israel's gonna be threatened once and for all and God will save them and he will come true to his promises. You will keep this land, you will have this land, this is where I'm gonna come back to.
Where we end up confused is we think America's just like that. Israel I'll come back this in minute. Israel is the only nation that God ever made a covenant with. Okay? Remember that. We'll come back to that in a minute.
He says, so the one who rescues will come from Jerusalem and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. And this is my covenant with them and I will take their sins away. So he's back to talking about Jesus again. Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the good news, and this benefits you Gentiles.
Yet they're still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. For God's gifts and call can never be withdrawn.
Once you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. Now they are the rebels and God's mercy has come to you so that they too will share in God's mercy. For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. Meaning we're trapped by our sins.
And he's hoping that Israel will start to see that. By the way, God blesses the Gentiles and really the church.
I'm gonna stop there. That's that section. See, he's like saying you got it wrong. Israel's on the bench. Not all of them are ever gonna come to Christ, but there's gonna come a moment where God is gonna fulfill his promise to save them. Both nationally, but ultimately
spiritually he's gonna save a bunch of them. That's the mystery he's talking about. I don't get this mystery he's talking about is there's a lot of mysteries in there. Like if you read that, what I just read, if you really thought about it, it talked about God is absolutely sovereign. You don't choose him, he chose you. It says that he knows how many gentiles are gonna be Christ. He already knows everyone is gonna come to Christ. And he says we wouldn't come to Christ if he didn't choose us. But then it also says you're responsible for your decision. You're responsible for your disobedience. You're responsible. Which brings up, I could get in. If you've been in church a long time, you're like I'm dancing around some deep theology here.
And then the reason I don't wanna dive into it is because we spend so much time looking at that tree that we miss the whole forest. Paul, think, himself was like, wait, wait, this What you just wrote here seems like you're like, man has free will and is responsible. God completely chooses. God is ultimately sovereign.
How does that work? How does that mean? How can you have both of those? I think Paul would say, don't know. And quit fighting about that. That's not the point. The point isn't to figure out the how.
Because in a minute, he's gonna say how deep God's thoughts are and how we can never understand them. A lot of stuff we want God to answer, he he even if he told us the answer, we wouldn't get it. I mean, if you've had a two year old, you understand what I'm saying.
A two year old doesn't wanna do things. Wanna do something. Have you ever just tried to reason with your two year old? You probably tried that once, maybe twice.
You can't sit there and give a logical explanation to a two year old. You know why? Their brain isn't formed enough to understand it. First of all, they're not gonna listen to the whole thing. They're gonna keep screaming about what they wanna do. And second of all, they didn't understand anything you said.
Because we are way more advanced. We're grown up. We have a fully adult brain. They're not there yet. How big is the difference between our understanding and God's? It's a lot a lot bigger than us and a two year old. That's where he says don't brag. Don't get arrogant. Our pride says, well God owes me an explanation.
Why doesn't he explain this to me? He's like, because you wouldn't get it. And so sometimes he says, you're just gonna do this because I'm your dad. And sometimes if we're really like a two year old, the best thing you could do is just pick them up and take them away from the scenario
and put them in a time out. You're benched. And so that's where we struggle with this. So but he goes through and he says, hey, this is the point. Don't what is for us? Don't make the same mistakes Israel did.
And he talks about this mystery. This mystery and then the mystery goes into this whole idea that with Israel be saved. And I talked about there's this national, there's the spiritual, and you know what he's referring to? I think this mystery is concluded and answered in the book of Revelation.
That's one of the scariest books to a lot of us. Or we're super intrigued. Kinda like when you see a car wreck. You know it's terrible, but you just can't help but look at it. Because you assume the book of Revelation is a car wreck. You see what he's talking about is this whole covenant he had with Israel. Yes,
you have to come to Christ like everybody. But how is he doing it? He used their disobedience to bless the whole world. The rejection of Christ led to the whole world being on the team. Gentiles, everyone can come to Christ. And right now many of them, they don't even see it. They're just blinded.
But there's gonna come a point where a lot of that remnant's gonna come back. And I believe it's in the book of Revelation. That's what the book of Revelation is talking about.
See, Paul wrote this. Paul died before the book of Revelation was written. And I think if he had read that book that John wrote, that's it. There you go. You get it, man. That's what I see. That's what God's saying. This is what's gonna happen.
I think our problem is we get confused by that book because what he's trying to say is in the end, in the end times when God's wrapping up history and all these things are happening, I think you are gonna see Jews by the millions turn back to Christ. And I think we get confused by the book of Revelation because
we make the same mistake that he said don't brag. Don't make it about you. Because before we read these last four verses, what you gotta understand he's saying is, you know what, our faith and our salvation is for us but it ain't about us.
Just like my dad said, hey, this game you're playing is for you. You get to have the joy of playing your position. You get the joy of being in this game. There's tough games. There's sometimes you're losing. Sometimes you're frustrated. You get to be It's all for you, but it ain't about you.
And we have to understand, it's about God. And then we get to this book of Revelation, and I think what he's saying is the answer will be.
And that's where we struggle with the end. We struggle with that because we kinda put ourselves in the middle of everything. So we're confused by this last book of the Bible because what you gotta understand is most of the last book of the Bible isn't about us.
But yet we think that like Israel, America has some covenant with God. You know, it's like the God, the bible, the constitution. The big three. No,
don't hear what I'm not saying. Tell lots of war, I love this country. I think it's the greatest country that's ever existed. I'm very patriotic in that sense, but it ain't a replacement for Israel. It's not God did not make some eternal covenantal promise with The United States.
The constitution's a great document about how to run a country, but it is not on the same level.
And the problem is we as American Christians, since we think we have this covenantal relationship, we put ourselves in the middle of everything. So every time something happens in the world, every time there's a war or a rumor of war or anything affects us or our culture starts to degrade or we start to go, we used to be more Christ like. Now what's going on? We think it must be the end.
Really? Just because of what we're going through might be the end? Why see in the book of Revelation, that's not even about us. News flash, America's not mentioned in the last book of the bible. Which tells you either we don't matter much or we're not even there anymore. Think about it.
And then we as Christians get freaked out. We're afraid of it. We've turned the book of Revelation into a horror movie.
And there's two types of people when it comes to horror movie. I can't stand being scared. I don't wanna see that at all. Or, oh, I like to be scared. I'm gonna go see it. But both of us still, both sides still think of it as a horror movie. I wanna see all the scary parts. Oh, scary. And we misunderstand.
If I'm right and well, I see the book of Revelation. I mean, church has talked about the first few chapters, Ecclesia, church, and then it's not mentioned again. Us as the body of Christ is not mentioned again until Jesus rides into victory with us with him.
That should be a clue. And then most of what's happening in the part that you're the most worried about, this great tribulation, these last seven years, first of all, when you think, things going really bad, it must be close to the tribulation. Do you realize the first three and a half years, if you read the book of Revelation, which we are gonna go through that within the next year. I don't remember when we're starting it. But the first three and a half years, things get better.
That's how the Antichrist fools Israel. You see, it's like it's not even bad. So it gets better before it gets worse. And so anybody's like, that guy must be the Antichrist. He's terrible. No, the Antichrist is gonna be someone who's cheering for it first. Duh. So then
it only gets bad the last three and a half years, but most of what's going on is God is pouring out His wrath on sin. He is judging Satan and his dominion. He's wrapping it up, and really most of it is what Paul's talking about here.
Think about this. During that period of time in the book of Revelation it says God seals, why does he have to seal, 144,000 evangelists to go spread the gospel? Why does he have to seal them? Well, because it also says during that period of time of the tribulation,
he pulls out the restrainer. The restrainer's pulled out of this space time continuum we're in right now. The restrainer is another name for the Holy Spirit. You think things are bad? Wait till the Holy Spirit's gone. Well, what does it say earlier in this book? What
is given to us in our hearts, in our lives, presents in us as a seal of our salvation? The Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit goes,
so do we. And why would you have to seal evangelists? They need to be sealed because they get to have the Holy Spirit while they're here. Another point. Why are all 144,000 of those evangelists Jews? And why do they come from the 12 tribes? Which by the way, 10 tribes got lost when they got annihilated.
They can really only trace two of the tribes now. So somehow
there's 10 other players that get back in the game. And I think what it's saying is what Paul is saying here. Most of that book of Revelation, when it gets crazy and scary, is God is calling his remnant back. I think in that tribulation you will see Jews come to Christ by the millions. By the millions.
That's why he's saying it's an incredible thing. If it was a blessing for us, what's gonna happen when he turns? And the second thing is, since we put ourselves in the middle of it, it's about Israel and the Antichrist wants to wipe out Israel and there comes this battle, because then you hear something, I know it's scary, like, what's going on in The Ukraine?
I've had so many people go, you think this is World War III? You think this is it? You think this is Armageddon? No, I do not think it's Armageddon. Because Armageddon happens in Armageddon. Armageddon's a place, not a bad movie with Bruce Willis. I've stood in the Valley Of Megiddo.
It's basically a superhighway. It's a valley that's open. It's the only way to really transport a lot of things from the North down through Israel. If you're gonna attack Israel and bring in a bunch of ground forces, guess where you're gonna take them? You take them through the Valley Of Megiddo. It's been a location of epic battles all through history.
And
it says that what's gonna happen, if it's literal that I believe, is like you're gonna have this Antichrist fool the Israelites. And then all of a sudden they're gonna fall as the aside. They're gonna realize he's wrong in this nation thing of the Antichrist and the minions and the wars. They're gonna pile up against Israel. They're gonna go attack it and wipe it out. They are massively overwhelmed.
And that's the moment when the greatest victory ever happens. And he proves, I just saved all of Israel. And we think of it like a horror movie when it's really a Marvel movie. And it's not Infinity War. Doesn't mean what the heck just happened?
That was like when Jesus died on the cross. For three days it was Infinity War. The hero died. What happened? Boom, he's back.
But when it says in that at the end, at this battle where Israel's about to get wiped out and you've had all these people turn, they realize he's not there. He's pulling Israel back into the game. And yeah, us Gentiles are still getting grafted in. It's kinda like we're getting out of here and we're taking out our troops, but you can come too. You know us, you know us, get on here. Let's just get aboard. He's finishing it up and he's gonna end it.
But then all of a sudden, instead of like Endgame where the portals open up and all the Avengers that were come back and and and then they have this narrow fought victory, but they still win and you're cheering. He's like, Captain America, escort him. This is our guy. Imagine what it says in the battle of Armageddon.
The portal opens up. Jesus comes riding through on his white horse. We're following him, all he does is open his mouth and everyone's incinerated. There's no moment. Are they gonna win? Are they gonna not? It's more like game over, end game.
Exclamation point, done. Why do you look at Revelation like a horror story, misunderstand it, put yourself in the middle of it, and worry about every war and rumors of war? We win. The book of Revelation is apocalypse. Looks bad, we win. That's the whole point. It's supposed to encourage Christians.
Yet we wanna fight about it. We wanna point this out and then we get afraid. We're afraid of what's happening in Ukraine. Guys, you realize Jesus can pull us out of here and come back in five minutes from now. I hope he doesn't cause my sermon ends really well.
Do you imagine me telling that to him? Wait, you couldn't wait ten more minutes? Well, it'll be more than ten.
Fifteen more minutes? Why are we afraid of it? Well, we put ourselves in the middle of it and we miss the point of it
and we don't see what it's really about.
Some of us are afraid of it might be the end because we love this world too much.
You love what's going on here. It's like, well, what's it going be like with a man? What's it going be like this? What's going be like? You don't trust God's faithfulness. You don't trust how awesome it will be. So we're more, yeah, like that, but I got a foot in both worlds, but I'm leaning on this foot.
Just tapping over here. Some of you don't want it to happen soon because you're still single and you'd like to experience special married time.
Please Jesus, just wait until after that first night at least. Let's be honest, That's been the dilemma of every young Christian male since the dawn of time. But some of you are on the opposite end. You don't want Jesus to return because you've been enjoying special married time and you ain't married.
And that's a lot of what we're afraid of. Most of us, our house is not an order and you're afraid dad's gonna come home before we clean it up.
And that's why a lot of people want me to preach different. Like shouldn't you preach different? It's the end times. You're like, why should I preach different? I preach the gospel. I preach faithfulness to God. I preach trust. He says be ready at all times. If you're saying we gotta change what we're doing because he might come back, then we're doing the wrong thing in the first place.
This mystery is gonna be amazing. God is faithful. God is faithful. Don't be fearful. Stop letting fear direct it. So Ukraine I don't know. It says wars and rumors of wars. We should be praying for them.
We had a prayer team yesterday morning, prayed for a couple hours for them. We should always be praying for the pain in the world, But we need to be prepared to just trust that God will come through. And you know what we need to do in that moment? Instead of getting fearful and political and argumentative
and say, this wouldn't happen if you didn't do this. We should do what the Ukrainian believers have been doing. They're in the middle of it. We're way far away and we're freaking out.
Have you seen those videos of what Ukrainian believers have been doing in the middle of it? They're down in a shelter so the missiles are landing and what are they doing down there? Is this the end? Are we done for? Is Jesus coming back? Oh no. No. What are they doing? Worshipping. Adoring God. Singing. Praising him.
That's what we're supposed to do when you wanna be fearful. And that's what these last four verses do.
It's interesting how God how Paul, inspired by God, he writes the first 11 chapters, and what Paul does in law's writing, it's really informational. It's all this theology. It's all the facts. It's all this great awesome stuff. It's information. And then chapter 12 begins what we call the transformation.
It's when he gets to the end he goes, okay, if this is all true, how does this work out? How do we live as the church? What are we supposed to do? And chapter 12 starts with, we need to be a living sacrifice. He died for us, live for him, and then he says we do that by the renewing of our mind, by the transformation.
We get transformed by the renewing of our mind. We'll be looking at that. He says there's this transformation that happens.
As we understand this information, there's this transformation that happens. And we're gonna be looking at that transformation starting next week. Our new series is called Move, but don't freak out. We're gonna Tarantino it. We're gonna go to chapter 15 and then go back to chapter 12. So if you come next week, was I in a coma for three weeks? What's going on here? Don't worry.
But he stops in these last four verses is like, I think what we're missing out on. We're missing what he wants us to do. There's a connecting dot that takes us from information to transformation. And if you leave the middle out, which is I think what Israel did, I think what we a lot do is it's the heart of legalism.
I wanna know what God is and what he said, and then I wanna just do the things he said. And we leave the middle part out, and this middle part is the connection. And most of us resist it. We won't do it.
And I believe that that's a lot of reasons why many of us know a lot about God, but we're struggling with moving towards the transformation. And it's simply this. I'm gonna read these verses, but here's the point. I need to turn information into adoration. That's the connecting dot.
Kinda like what the Ukrainian Christians are doing. They know who God is and now it's scary and what do they do? Adoration. Worship. Praise their God.
Because look what Paul does. He writes this section is written different. It was most likely sung in the early church. It's poetry. He's writing all this technical stuff and all a sudden he writes a poem before he goes to chapter 12. He stops and it's a worship poem. It's something you could turn into singing. It's very poetic and it's all about God. Look what he says. Oh,
how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. That o there is hard to translate from the Greek. It's o, they didn't know what to say because it's almost untranslatable. It's about being so awestruck that he's basically saying about all the stuff of who God is, he's like, oh.
It's all he knows how to say Because of how great God's riches, wisdom, and knowledge. How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways. Like I said, we wanna talk about why do you do that? How do do that? He's like, we're not gonna understand it.
He goes, for who can know the Lord's thoughts? Who knows enough to give God's advice? Think about your prayer life. How many times are your doubts of God and your prayers more about God, need to tell you how to do this?
And who has given him so much he needs to pay it back? Sometimes you struggle. I've been so faithful. Why has he not given me this? It's about you. For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever, amen.
If you notice that was all adoration, focusing, it's about God. And that last verse especially, verse 36 said three things that we need to remember. And that's the heart of what worship is. It refocuses the back to what we need to be looking at. Not us, but him. And he says these three things. He basically said, God is the source of all things. They're from him. He's not the resource. He's the source of all of life. God is the sustainer of all things. They are through him. Meaning he sustains. He's the one that gives us the transformation. We just need to surrender. He's the one that you can trust in the end. His promise to come true. His will will happen. You don't have to fear. And then ultimately, this is the one I think we leave out the most. This is Israel's biggest mistake and this is what I see in the church and our culture's biggest mistake. We forget that God is the significance of all things. We believe this stuff, but we put us in the center of the story. We think our salvation is about us. It's not. It's for us, but it ain't about us. God is the significance of all things. He is the one. He is the one that's
the reason it's all for. It's all for his glory. We live for his glory. He loves us because of who he is, not because who we are. It's not a game to get your will. It's a surrender to him because he is all there is, was, and ever will be. And he loves you because he chose to love you. Stop fighting him and surrender to it.
And you gotta remember, and that's what worship is. Worship is giving me an opportunity to take my focus off me and put it on he. That's why we worship. Now worship is more than just singing. It's living sacrifices
of all those things. But one of the primary things that God's called us to do is sing new songs. We should sing hymns. And he's called us to do these things. Why? Because it's a chance for us to, as a church, focus on who he is. And I think many of us, you're struggling because you try to take information to transformation
and you refuse to do the adoration. Especially when we sing. I mean, all right, here it comes. I love you. Don't shoot the messenger, but I need you to tilt your throat up. I need the throat exposed. If you're in this room and you don't sing when we sing, there is only two answers to why you're not singing.
Well, if you're mute, that would be a third one, but there's only two.
You're either not a Christian, which we wouldn't expect you to sing. You're figuring this out. Why would you sing words you're even know what they are? That's cool. So if you come in, people aren't singing. Well, some people aren't singing because they don't know the Lord yet. That's okay.
And if we're really doing our job as a church, there's always gonna be some of you here that don't know the Lord. The second reason though is is you've made it about you.
That is the only other answer. If you're a Christian that doesn't sing when we sing, you've made it about you. Give me any every excuse I've ever heard, it's about you. I don't like the songs, you. I don't like the loudness, you. I don't like the style, you. I don't like the jeans the guy that's leading is wearing, you.
That guy looked at me cross eyed. Then you find out they actually are cross eyed. You. And what a jerk are you now that you did that.
Honestly, We're called to do it and it's actually for us. Worship is for us but not about us. Salvation is for us. Asked us to do this. It's not for him, it's about him but it's for us.
Because when we worship in any way, especially when we sing, we are doing something we're wired to do that says I am gonna sign out. I'm gonna
shout off. I'm gonna kinda come back. I'm gonna reach out. I'm gonna sing back to God what I know to be true about him. And what it does is it takes me from myself and looks to him. That's the purpose of it. And if you struggle and you say, I just don't like to sing,
are being arrogant and making it about you and that's the difference maker. That's the key connection that's not happening. Because if you don't like something, know, but God said this is good for you, you should trust me to do it and you won't do it, guess what? That's holding you back. You are not fully surrendering.
So you gotta make a decision.
So I wanna do something different here. I want us to take communion first, then I'm gonna lead us into a little closing half song. And we're gonna do something kinda weird between that. Just wanna let you know, so it doesn't feel like a movie that never ends. I have a purpose in what I'm doing.
But the reason I wanna take communion is communion is one of the greatest ways of worship that God's asked us to do repeatedly that even prepares our hearts to sing. It prepares our hearts to listen. What do mean by that? Because like before Jesus
died on the cross, he had his disciples together and he took some bread and he took some wine and he said, this bread is my body broken for you. Take and eat. This blood, this wine is my blood spilt for you. Take and eat. Think about it. Who was it for? Us. But who is it about? Him.
When you take communion and really wonder why did God ask us to do this, he's like it's a perfect chance to remind you this is for you. You can trust me. I love you. I died for you. I did all this for you. But you also gotta remember it's about me. I'm the one that did it. So you should trust my love. Trust my advice.
Trust my ways. And it's a chance to reflect. And so when you looked at the cross, when he said do this in remembrance of me, as we remember him,
we look from our current situation. We look to him. It gives us a chance to repent from where we started to be disobeyed. Repent where we've let fear lead the way. Repent from what we're doing and say, God, have a lot of fears, but man, it's about you and I see what you did and you are faithful. You are faithful, so I'm gonna turn back towards you.
It prepares our heart to be a living sacrifice, to worship. And that's why we do it. It's not some mystical thing. There's no mystical power in stale Styrofoam. It's grape juice, a thimble of it. It reminds us of who, And the who is not me, it's he. And that's why he said, take the bread and eat.
He then took the cup and said, this is my blood, it's built for you, for us, about him. We wanna make it about us, for us. He said, nope. Take and drink.
As the band comes out here, let me sum it up this way to lead us into this moment. When I was a kid, I was very sickly, asthmatic. I wasn't the grizzled, chiseled example of an athlete that you see before you today. Man, every time I say that, I didn't used to get laughs when I was younger.
People, yep, okay. I understand that. Now it's a joke. There you go. What do you what do you do? But what's weird is I'm old enough that you know what a regular doctor advised if you said when I run or exercise, I start wheezing and coughing? If I go outside and grass, I start you know what they told us to do?
Don't go outside. Don't run. It was terrible advice. We know better than that. And my dad thought it was stupid because he had been a warrior and an athlete. Goes, seems to me you should make your lungs stronger. Even though you got asthma, it'll it'll be better.
And my mom found a specialist that was on the cutting edge. Agreed. Said you need to start pushing your lungs.
So my dad goes, we're gonna run every day. Just we're gonna start it might even be a walk or a jog, but we're just gonna start by going around the block, which in my neighborhood, if you got all the way around, is about a half mile. And so
he goes, we're gonna do this. And I didn't wanna do it. It sounded easier to watch TV and it was an excuse. I wheeze. I don't have to move. And he's like, nope. We're doing this. And when he went, he goes, here's what we're gonna do.
I I want you to sound off to what I'm gonna say. And I want you to we're gonna do something I learned in the boot camp and the training in the military. That when a force needed to get stronger and
in better shape and it held them together, is as we would go on these forced marches and someone were jogs and running, the drill sergeant, he'd be out there and then he would do a thing called a Jody.
Don't know why they're called Jody's. There's a lot of background as to what it could be. Some inspirational, some very military, not inspirational. But they called them Jody's. And you know what they are?
It's like I'll call out, you know, and my dad would do it. And, you know, he'd start off. He says, it's okay. A lot of them are funny. It's okay. You it's a celebratory kind of thing because it's okay to to have fun and and and celebrate the moment. So my dad started, he's like, let's do it. I'll start simple. And we start doing this, and and he goes, you gotta sound off. And he goes, I don't know, but I've been told. And I had to go, I don't know, but I've been told my bad jokes never grow old. And I'd be like, whatever. Now you know where I get it from. And
but then sometimes as he got really tough, he'd get a little bit more inspirational. He saw me kinda slow down to keep me at cadence with him. He he he would say, I know you don't like to run. I know you don't like to run. But defeating asthma is a lot more
You know, and he'd start saying these things to remind me of the mission, remind me and and and why we did that. It was interesting. I'd start looking forward to what he was gonna do. I started looking forward to sounding off. I started looking for the goofy stuff, the fun stuff, but the serious stuff. I look forward to it. And as we did it, we stayed right in toe and and we stayed together and the run would happen faster.
And we got stronger. And you realize that's why the military does that. Because the job to be a soldier is not just to be a good runner. You have to stay in cadence with the rest of your team. You need the whole army to be stronger.
And the problem when we make our faith about ourselves and our culture, the struggle I have, and many of you struggle with this, you think a church is just a place I go, I sit in a room with some people, and then I go off and do my own thing. But we were meant to run-in cadence together. An army of one, no matter how strong you are and great you are, and contrary to a lot of movies, Chuck Norris cannot defeat the world.
Jesus did, but he called us to be together. So when we're called to sing, when we're called to worship together, the reason we should sing together is not about whether you like the song and you're like, but I don't wanna sing. I'm running. I'm in a tough time. This is hard. Yeah. But we're running together,
and we're calling out together, and we're in cadence together. And that's what helps us run. That helps us run towards the mission. That helps us remember who God is. It helps take me out of it. It's not about me. It's about him, and it's about us doing what God called us to do. And that is why we sing.
And if you won't do it, you basically say, I don't care about the team. I don't care about the cadence. My face about me. And that's why it'll never work. It'll never work till you stop making it about yourself.
It's for us. God's love is for us. God's victory is for us. God's grace is for us. All of that is to be enjoyed and experienced and celebrated, but it's not about us. It's about him, and that's what worship is. So here, stand up. I had to catch my breath real quick because I'm gonna have you guys sound off.
We're gonna do a little sounding off, and then we're gonna sing. Amen? Amen. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read a couple of these verses a little bit at a time. I'm gonna repeat. I'm gonna say it. You're gonna repeat it. Old school church called this responsive reading.
I call this let's get in cadence with one another. Amen? So here we go. Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge. How
impossible it is is it for us to understand his decisions and his ways.
For everything comes from him. I can't hear you. And exist by his power. And is intended for his glory his glory and all glory to him forever. Amen. Amen.
Amen, church. We serve a good God. Amen? Come on. He's worthy of all the praise and all the honor. And in this next week, we're gonna face things that frustrate us, things that are difficult and tense. But would we go about this week in those moments shifting our perspective,
remembering that he is a good father, he cares for us, and he is worthy of the glory. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on rockpointe.io for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.