JESUS FOR MESSIAH | Week 3 | Sermon

But no, as we get started here today, was thinking earlier this week, I had to go to a doctor's appointment. It's a doctor that I have to he's about a half an hour away, which I hate. Good doctor, but far away. And

as I get up in the morning to leave, because the apartment was at eight, so I'd leave by like 07:20 or so. As I'm leaving, I noticed that my Fortunately, it's not super hot, but as I noticed my air conditioning was blowing warm.

And I looked and it was flashing, and so the AC went out. And I'm like, well, luckily I'm going in the morning, it's not gonna be terrible.

And then I get there, but I am now worried about like, and I gotta go get my AC fixed. My son ruined one of the tires on my truck borrowing it, so now I gotta get new tires. So I'm thinking about all those things. I go in, I go to check-in, he has me 08:00. They go 08:00? Yeah. What's your name? Tell them the name. They go,

you sure that's your name? No. I'm like, yeah. But they go, yeah. We have you down for 02:45 this afternoon. I'm like, no. Don't. Oh, yeah. We do. It's right here. I go, I got it on my calendar. Well, we have it on our schedule.

And I'm like, no. Then I remembered when I did the scheduling, the scheduling person had a problem. Like, they I caught another one that when I found out what time it was, it was the the time I said, don't want that one. I want the other one. This one I know they have 02:45 or eight and I said eight.

I know I said that. And I know that it happened before, but now I'm getting mad. Part of me I'm getting mad at myself because I think I didn't really check this time and I should have. And because they send you a text the day before

and I didn't read it. And so I kept saying, no. This time I was pretty sure it was the right time. So I kept going. He goes, no, it's not. I'm getting a little grumpy. And then I looked down at my text. I go, yeah, it I know it's at eight. And I pull up the text. I'm like, yeah, see right here, it says 02:45.

So then I go into second gear. I'm like a little frustrated. And then I go into okay. Go into damage control. I've been there and had my own little reality TV show because when I go this doctor I see is like, I'm always the youngest person in the room. And so

as I'm going in, there's these people come in. There's like people that you come in and and there's a woman that that that that the one day, it was a woman who like, she was pretty old, but she was the daughter. She had her mom with her. And and they come up and she's like talking. She's like, yes. I gotta

and they're yeah. I see them and go, wait, what's your name again? She goes, just a second. She walks over to the other lady, which I can hear them. She goes, her appointment's next week. What do I do?

And she goes, just a minute. They go back to hey, have a seat. We're gonna get you in. Like, no problem. They don't even let her know that she had the wrong she wasn't just a few hours off. I saw that happen three times. So I go, hey. I know I'm at 02:45.

The procedure they're just doing a checkup. It's a quick scan. I already had one on my other leg. I go, it takes like a minute. I I'm in there less than a minute. And I go, can you just go sneak me in? She goes, no. We can't. And I go, we're down attack. There's no way we can do this. And I'm like, now I'm getting mad.

She's technically right, but I go, I've seen you do it before and I know how just go ask the tech. If they know what they're doing, I guarantee they'll love you. She goes, I can't do that. And I'm like, I know you've done it. In my head, I'm getting mad. And I'm like I go, listen. Just

that these people some of them are so slow. I could probably run-in there. They could do it before they even get through the lobby and get in there. Nope.

I was I was grumpy, man. So I was probably a little bit mad. I finally just said, alright. Fine. Well, you know what? I I really can't come back or whatever. And I go, you know what? Don't do anything with my appointment. I may or may not be back. And I get my car and drive off. Now I'm driving off, no AC,

tire I gotta be careful because this tire might actually blow out while I'm driving. But at least, at least as I was driving home on Power Road, I was hitting every light right coming down south. So I'm like, I'm cruising along at 45 miles just go. I'm gonna get home in twenty six minutes. Yes.

And but right as I'm getting close to one of the last lights I gotta go through, I see this car waiting to turn onto the street. And you ever just get that vibe? You're far enough. You're coming fast enough that you do not have enough room, but they're gonna turn anyways.

And so I looked in the lane next to me, instinctually, there's nobody in the lane next to me. Did I change lanes? No. They pulled out. And they pulled out so slow. It's just like, was somebody pushing them or did their car run out? It was like it was probably hard for them to turn the wheel they were going so slow.

And it made me so mad because they actually did break the law. I would have to hit my brakes and slow down and alter my speed. And so instead of just switching lanes immediately,

I was so angry of my rights being violated because I live in a society. And as an American, I have the right to go the speed limit and not have you turn in front of me. So instead of doing that, I waited till the last second to change lanes. Get really close like you just right by him, which is probably not the safest thing to do. And then lay on the horn,

and then I wanted to stay close because I'm not a coward. I will look you in the eye to let you know my disappointment. So I was like, and I turned to lock eyes with this person that's so hideously ruining my day. And as I look over, I catch eyes with this sweet little lady that looks like she was lost.

She's so short, she's looking through the steering wheel. And I just turned, accelerated, and all I thought was I hope she didn't see my Rock Point sticker on my truck.

I knew I should have put a different churches sticker on my truck.

Put echos on. That's what I'm gonna do in the future. Here's the point. I drove away and I was like, what am I doing? I mean, technically I had the right to be a little bit offended. We do have a laws. We have society. She violated my rights, but why would I be so mean?

I think it started before because I was already inconvenienced and mad about before. And really, I was mad that I've had this scheduling problem before and I didn't even bother checking the time. But I was just grumpy. I was not a good neighbor. I was not a good citizen.

I was just caught up in being frustrated and fearful like this is gonna ruin my day. I knew I had to drive back at 02:45 in the heat of the day. I didn't like the thought of it. I didn't like what that was gonna mean for me.

And you know, I think that's how a lot of us feel and are acting in ways more than just about doctor's appointments and people cutting us off. I didn't know if you heard, but there's an election coming up real soon. And I see a lot of people, especially Christians, acting in a way as a citizen that even if we're right,

the way we act doesn't look right. And where is that coming from? And that's what Jesus is gonna give us some wisdom on in the story we're gonna look at today. And what I what I want for a big idea today is couldn't think of anything clever, so I had a question instead.

And and it's simply this, does your citizenship on earth reflect your citizenship of heaven? Meaning if you're a Christian, we have a dual citizenship. We are called to be a part of the communities in. We are citizens. We're Americans. We're Arizonans. We're Queentuckians or Gilbertians. We're Chandlorians.

I don't know what it is. The Chandlorians. Whatever. But that was actually that made me laugh. Never said it before. But we're also citizens of a better country as Hebrews 11 says. And how does that work?

Because I think some people forget we're citizens of heaven or we think to be a citizen of heaven means we ignore all things of our own civic responsibilities, and that's not true. But how do we live in that tension? And Jesus brings wisdom to that in chapter 22 of Matthew when he's back in the temple area.

This is a time what he says last week, he knows he's heading to the cross, and he is confronting the religious people that are rejecting him.

There are people that say they know God, they've worshiped God, they have they have the old testament. They're the the Jews and these religious people, but they just they don't accept Jesus because they wanted a political messiah. See, they wanted a messiah that would fix

the earthly citizenship. They've wanted come fix all of our issues here. And he goes, you're missing the point. And so they kind of rejected him. So he's in the temple. What we're gonna read here is

two groups of these Jewish religious people come and try to trap them. Then you gotta know about this going in is there's the Pharisees and their line, and then there's the Herodians. The Pharisees don't like Rome. That's the most popular view. Most of the religious people and the Jews didn't like Rome.

And so they hate that they have to pay taxes. They want a different leader. On the other side of the aisle, still Jews, the Herodians, they support Rome because what Rome would do when it takes over says you can keep your king, Herod. But all you gotta do, run your own affairs,

but just stay out of our way, pay your taxes, and don't try to rebel. As long as you do that, you know, you're fine. So they liked Rome and they're pro Rome. So now you have these two, they're the same religion, the same group of people following God.

They have very different political views on the civic responsibilities, but they did come together to plot together. They came across the aisle in their mutual hate for Jesus because they didn't think he was gonna fix their political issues. So they wanted him out of the way. So they come to try to trap him.

And in this trap, how he answers teaches us how he says to reflect.

How do you balance the tension between civic responsibilities, meaning living in a society that's secular, but also your responsibility and citizenship of heaven. And so here we go. I'm just gonna read it and make a couple points and then we'll all go home. Then the Pharisees well actually you all go look at the building

Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. They sent some of their disciples along with supporters of Herod to meet with him. Teacher, they said, we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You're impartial and you don't play favorites. They're just pouring it on.

And but you know why they're saying this? By saying that they're hoping they'll get Jesus as a man to go, yeah, I'm impartial. We want you to take a side. They're trying to set them up to make sure he's gonna pick one or the other. And they don't care which one he picks because either way,

it will probably take care of their problem with Jesus in their mind. He says this. He goes, now tell us what you think, verse 17. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? See, what they're doing is the Herodians think it's right. The pharisaical line don't like it.

And most of the crowd that's around Jesus does not like Rome and doesn't like the taxes. So they figure if he says, no, you shouldn't pay taxes. The crowd will be happy. But the Herodians know if he says no, this teacher of rabbi with a huge crowd in the temple

stood up and basically rebelled against Rome. One of their biggest things is do not rebel against especially our taxes. And said to a crowd of people who are already hostile, I think we should not give Romans taxes.

That is basically signing a death warrant because they could arrest them. They had the power to arrest them, but they don't have the power to kill anyone. Only the Romans could. So they go, if he rejects the taxes, they're gonna take him to the Romans, and they'll probably kill him.

If he says it's okay to pay the taxes, he won't get killed. He'll be fine, but they're pretty sure the crowd will turn on him, which solves their problem too. We still like Jesus. We don't want people to follow him. We don't want anyone to vote for this guy.

So if we could get him into a debate, get him to say something stupid, we win.

Pretty much what we do today, right? When you watch a debate, no one cares about issues. No one cares about what's going on. Everyone's just ripping on the other and trying to bait the other one into looking dumber than they do. That's pretty much our politics right now. They're trying to do the same thing. And Jesus,

who is the Lord,

is saying, I'm not gonna play that game. Jesus knew their evil motives. You hypocrites, he said. Why are you trying to trap me? Here, show me the coin used for the tax. So he goes, Alright, you're trying to trap me. I know you're hypocrites. Show me the coin. Well, why does he ask for a coin used for the tax?

Because he doesn't have one, which is gonna prove a point, which is gonna make them look dumb. Because he doesn't have one because they're on the Temple Mount. And he knows that what's on that coin is the image of Caesar. And

the reason the Pharisees reject this, and even the Herodians agree with this, is that's a graven image because they believe in emperor worship and they think that's a graven image of a false god. Hence why a few weeks ago when he flipped the tables over, one of the things he's mad about is the money changing. He wasn't mad at money changing. He was mad that they were doing it in the temple area.

And they had a rule they just knew. We're not gonna bring money to use here with a graven image of a false God. We're not bringing a graven image into the temple. So they didn't do it. Jesus didn't do it. Guess who did? The Pharisees and the Herodians had a coin.

So they were kind of hypocritical. They were dumb. They're saying we don't do this, but they did it. Why did they do it? Because they knew they could use it to set Jesus up. So they were more concerned with getting their political opinion across, setting up Jesus, than they were with their worship. So he goes, you're a hypocrite.

You're saying should we pay taxes because you're concerned about the Romans. So he calls them hypocrites. The crowd now probably looks at them like, why do they have one of those coins here? So now they're losing respect in the side of the crowd. But then he says,

whose picture and title are stamped on it? What image does it bear? Caesar's they replied. Well then he said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. It says his reply amazed them and they went away.

I don't if you've ever heard this passage preached before in church. You probably just heard it as quit cheating on your taxes. That's not what he's talking about. This says way more than you think in just those few verses. Basically what Jesus was saying, what kind of amazed him was,

the prevailing idea was if you're really religious and love God and you're in a secular society, you have to like become like the Amish or a monk. You had to like you know go buy unincorporated land out here and do whatever you want, basically. And he's saying no, I'm not saying that. He's saying you should participate

and be a good citizen in the society you're in. But he's also saying, and you can do that even in a fully pagan society. He's just, but he also says, but give God what is God's. So he's giving us wisdom on how do we operate as Americans. How should we as Christians operate as Americans?

And the first thing he says, there's three points to this. The first point he makes is be wise and don't compromise.

A. W. Tozer says compromise is the devil's word. Now there's a lot of non compromise when it comes to politics right now. But what his type of compromise is, he means we need to be people that what they were trying to lure him into is a compromise. It's one or the other. It's this or that. He goes, Nope, it's bothand.

It's bothand. But whatever you do, you need to have wisdom. Jesus is the word. He gave us the word. We have God's word. So however we operate as a citizen of The United States Of America needs to be under the guise of the wisdom of God's word, not the wisdom of the world. In other words, don't be Machiavellian.

Don't let the ends justify the means. And what I see with a lot of us as citizens in politics, in being a neighbor, we will do stuff that's not really the wisdom of God's word because we think it gets us to something that is good. He goes, no, you don't do it that way.

So then what does he say there? What does do when he says give to Caesar what Caesar's, give to God's what is God's? What is he really saying? He's saying these two things. If we're gonna have this kind of wisdom on how to live out as a citizen of our culture, we need to do these two things. First,

and here's what it is. These two things are really They lead to action, But for most of us, it's just gonna need to be an attitudinal shift, a perspective shift in your mind and your heart on just how you go about looking at stuff. And the first one is this. Participate in,

but don't prioritize your citizenship on earth. The first thing he's saying with is you should participate, just don't make it the priority. Well, how do you know you're not being a priority? Make it the priority when you participate in it in the way the world would participate in it. When

you when you fall for the fear, when you run after stuff like, let's say, I'll just use politics. We have like when we get really fearful and then we get angry when it comes down to politics and we get really judgmental and we we won't befriend or be nice to people that are politically different than us and we and we engage when we engage the way the world engages with politics,

you've probably it's become a priority to you. Because if you are super worried about who's gonna be president, why? Why? It's usually you're worried economically, you're worried about liberalism or or too conservative, you're worried about control versus freedom. You're worried about something.

And why are you worried about that? Because it's gonna affect your life here. It is. And that's true. It does. But when you get really fearful, you get really angry. And when we're really mad about it, that tells me that we have the wrong priority. The wrong priority

if you make this the priority, the here and now, you're gonna get really angry over politics. You just are because you prioritize it. Priority means what's the most important. What's number one? And number one is not the citizenship in our society. That's not the number one priority. We should be living that citizenship

out through the lens and actions of our primary citizenship.

So don't hear what I'm not saying. He does say participate. I think because I won't tell people certain things or when something happens in the world, I don't get up and harp some biblical idea about it that I don't care about this? No. I do.

I think you should participate. I'll just say it flat out. If you're 18 years and up and you don't vote as a Christian, you're part of the problem. You should vote. And you should vote with the biblical wisdom. Let your biblical theology drive your political methodology and your ideology.

Not the other way around. I see so many people they get fall into some idea of culture that it just feels good. It makes sense, but it's anti biblical. But you just feel it so strong that you try to force the biblical theology

into that mold. That is the wrong you got the wrong priority. You've messed it up. And that is actually creating idols. You are twisting God's word. So yes, vote.

And yes, you should vote as a Christian. Don't fall for this stupid idea like you can't tell. Christians just wanna vote and force their religion upon us. The United States Of America is a free country. We are the country. We get to decide. Everyone gets to give their opinion on how we should lead. And if I have an opinion that comes from the Bible, I have every right that anyone else does too.

And I believe that, and so should you. So don't get me wrong. We should vote. We should be involved. We should actually have discussions. We should try to win people over to our way of thinking.

That's being a good citizen. God says be a good citizen. Our country is founded on discussion and debate and looking for ways. But if you fall into the pathway of the world, it's a priority to you. You're going to do it very ungodly. And it's going to take you to a bad place. Because how does the world

try to how does politics work right now? Fear. It's fear based. Everything is fear. Whenever he wants me to talk about something, you guys thought, why? Well, because if this doesn't happen, this is gonna happen, then it's gonna happen, then it's gonna happen. I go, well, why don't I talk about the answer?

Well, well, I know Jesus matters, but we need everybody to we need it. And fear will cause you to be angry. And angry gets a response. That's why everything's fear based. I mean, man, have you watched any of the political ads? You

get sick of them. I actually wanna get popcorn and watch them because they laugh. They make me laugh until I cry, basically. Because and it's not like, yeah, those liberals, they really do that horrible, or those conservatives. Everyone plays this way and it's wrong.

Every political ad has the ominous music and the guy that's like, did you know? And did you know that this person, you know, like he like ate their young and then did this and that and then and I'm telling you, I've seen both ads. I've I I am not kidding. You go look it up. I have seen an ad on both extremes

where they're showing you a video of someone giving a speech and you can watch the moment where it skips and they've edited something they said here with something they said here. And that's not just all those liberals or all those MAGA people, both sides. And you fall for it.

That's what I mean. Use the wisdom. Christians need to be smarter than this. We need to be as wise as serpents, but as innocent as doves, it says in Matthew 10. Meaning, yes, make it a participate,

but don't make it a priority. And the priority of this world, the way it works is, let's just throw all this information. Let's give our opinions. Let's not talk about I mean, watch a debate, man. Is there wisdom in that?

There is no wisdom. It's doing exactly what these guys tried to do to Jesus, but he wouldn't play there. They don't talk about the issues. Do it's bait the other one into saying something we know will make them look stupid. That's all it is. And we we fall for it. We fall for the fear. And here's what happens.

When we fall the fear, it takes us down a road that leads to suffering. Not just suffering others. Our own suffering. Because you are sitting here and if you made politics a priority, the frustration which so many Christians, even in our church, have come to me wanting me to talk about stuff,

man, I feel for how much emotional energy are you burning up on the wrong thing. Because the book of James summarizes this path. Matter of fact, I got a pastor quoted it. It's really good. It summarizes a couple chapters of James. What happens when you take fear? Fear leads to anger.

Anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. You know who said that? Pastor Yoda.

Man, you will read two blogs and think you did research on your politics. Yoda from Star Wars said more truth than I've seen in any politician lately. Because that's the game. The game is that's how you win in our society now. We should participate but don't compromise. Don't make it the priority. We need to know that that's

what James says. Fear. The reason they like to use fear tactics. If you don't vote this way, you know what's gonna happen? Take it to the nth degree because then

And then that goes, you know what? We gotta do something because I'm afraid. And you know what? And fear causes anger. So then you make an enemy. They're the enemy. Do you realize as Christians, people aren't our enemy. They're the prisoners of war. And

you make people and then we have our stereotype. It's the liberals, conservative, it's this person, it's that person. And when you create the stereotype and you just hate it, you stop caring and looking at people the way God's called us to see people.

Now I didn't say not have a political opinion and not be involved and vote where you should vote. But we need to use the biblical wisdom and make it something we participate in, not just prioritize.

And how do we prioritize? Because first of all, 80% of what we're voting for is an opinion. It's not based There is no biblical go this way or that way. Now, of course, there's a couple things that I think are pretty obvious from scripture on what to vote for.

I mean, do I have to sit here and tell you? I'm not gonna assume something that the world out there and every politician does not give you credit for. You're smarter than that. I'm gonna assume you guys are smart. Now, maybe I'm wrong for assuming that.

But do I really need to sit here and and and just act like a politician and everything? If you know the word take the 10 commandments and just apply that to issues. Thou shall not kill should direct some of the ways you vote. It should.

But here's the problem. When we get mad and act with the ant of fear and hate, when you say, you know what? You know that this is killing. Abortion kills baby. I guess. But when we act livid and we act like punish those people and all that, what happens to the people that there's probably someone in this room right now that had an abortion?

Because they were in a hopeless spot. They didn't know. We're in a pagan society. They had no understanding. They just did. You know what? God loves you. And I wish there was somebody around you that loved the Lord enough to show you there was another way than what you had to do. Instead of Christians

yapping about put them all in jail and do all this, when you start getting legalistic about it, it's because of hate. You've started to make them the enemy and you wanna punish the law. That's what the old that's what these pharisees were doing. They used laws and they didn't care about people.

Did I say not vote away that says, I wanna limit it. I really do. But act in love and have a plan. And take into account where people were from before we start having the rhetoric. Did I water down? Did I say I'm not for something biblical? I absolutely did. But I gotta believe that anyone who struggles with this

needs to know the love of Christ and why there's a better way. That is how you end things like that from happening. But of course, vote your opinion in the biblical way. So what I'm saying is participate. You should participate. We should be involved. We should care. We should talk about it. But do it like Jesus would.

Don't do it like the world does. And stop coming to me and trying to make me preach like the world would preach, because I'm pointing to the answer. And the Bible says we do not have a spirit of timidity or fear. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in love that gives us faith and courage to love.

So if you are so fear based, the problem is probably not your political point of view. It's the way you act. And what it should reveal is think about why you're so worked up. Because that's the real problem. The real problem is if you're that worked up, you've made it a priority. And this goes for everything.

We need to be good citizens in everything. I mean, we're all worried about, like some of us, we are so active politically. You have all the signs in your yard, but every one of your neighbors hates you.

Like, I don't know if they hate me. Well do you know which one everybody doesn't like? And if the answer is no, then you're it.

You throw all these signs up there and then you park four cars on the street and don't mow your lawn. Because you know what? You hate your HOA, and you're American, and I don't like my HOA. You know, how dare they come and hold me to the thing I signed and agreed to when I bought the house.

That's the American way. I get it. I naturally wanna do that too. I didn't get rid of the yard the weeds in one of my areas of the yard that kept getting weeds, and I got a notice. I had like five weeds.

The common park right across my house was covered with weeds, the one they take care of. They were right. I needed to get rid of the weeds. But you know what I cared? I don't have to do anything about this. I called them. You know what? I'll get rid of my weeds when you get rid of the hundreds, and that's probably the reason I have them in my yard. Now the good thing would have been to go tell them that they needed to take care of their weeds, but I was using it as an excuse to say, I'm not gonna do what you want me to do

even though I agreed to it. Same thing we do in marriage. Be a good husband. Be good wife. You made these vows. How dare you try to hold me accountable to the vows I just made? That's what I mean. He's saying in all things, be a good citizen. But we do participate, but not as the priority.

So the second point he's saying when he says give to God what is God's. That is where he says prioritize. Don't just participate in your citizenship. I believe making this mistake is what actually drives us to making the mistake on the first point. If I refuse to prioritize my citizenship in heaven, I will prioritize

everything in this earth. So when I talk about stuff like, guys, does it mean to be a citizen in heaven? Well, it's great. He gave us this idea when he says, whose image is on the coin?

He says, give to Caesar. What does Caesar go? Participate. Pay the taxes. It's their money. There's a system, this God anointed government. He did these things, but you know what?

But you need to give to God what is God's? He was doing the imagery. Whose image are we created in? So when he says, yeah, give him the taxes, be a good citizen, participate in the politics and all that, but you know what you really, what God really wants? All of you.

We belong to him, which means we belong to the body of Christ, which means we have responsibilities as a body of Christ member. We are citizens of the church. We belong to one another.

That's what he was saying. You're focusing so much on that you're forgetting. He was telling these hypocrites that you're focusing so much on this stuff, you're forgetting that you need to point people to me. That's

why you flip tables. You are so busy with doing your own thing you forgot the outreach part to love other people because you set up shop in the Court Of The Gentiles which is the biggest part of the temple. It's the place for people to come and find Jesus and we get so caught up with the other stuff we don't do this, or if you don't do this, you will do the other stuff.

It's a chicken and the egg thing.

In Hebrews chapter 11,

it says this great faith hall of fame passage

where they says by faith by faith by faith. It's all these great people in the scripture that did something by faith. But the end it says, but they never really got to see all of it. They just had faith. They didn't see God's promises in full fruition, but they saw it from afar. Look what it says here. Starting in verse 13.

All these people died still believing that God had what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it from a distance and welcomed it.

He's talking about Jesus and our faith and our righteousness and our eternal life and all that. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward

to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God for He's prepared a city for them.

He's saying we are citizens of another place. If you look at Philippians three twenty, I think that'll go up on the screen. But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives and we are eagerly waiting for him to return as savior. Jesus himself says,

a lot of people think he said you're in this world but not of it. As if we're supposed to that's the view that says forget pug, forget being involved. Let's just circle the wagons and hang on. No. He says you're not of this world, but I have sent you in. Meaning he's we once you're a citizen of heaven, we're not really of this world anymore. But we are traveling through as citizens of this world because he has a mission for us. Meaning we need to make the priority being in our faith in God, our trust of God, our testimony

before other people, our love and our pointing people to Jesus by loving him like Jesus. That needs to be your priority if you are a believer. And if you won't do it, you are too caught up in the citizenship of this world. That's what he's saying.

Because you know who had the problem? All these religious people that were listening to him. He says, Fine, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, but more importantly, give to God what is God's. Because he gave us himself. Jesus died for us to have that life.

So what does that mean? I need to turn back to God. I need to Ralph Waldo Emerson said this. It's like sometimes we act more like we belong to Caesar in this world. And he said this, Things are in the saddle and they ride mankind.

Things, stuff, all the things of this world. And a lot of us, that's the problem. You've prioritized this world so you come here and say you believe in Jesus. But the reality is all those things in your life, all those things you want, that's in the saddle and it's riding you.

And that's why you get frustrated and you're so angry about the world. And then you get angry at me when I say, hey, once again, he's saying, man, you need to know me, you need to grow with others, and you need to go live intentionally, the mission I've given you.

In other words, a lot of times the way we act as citizens of this earth is we're just pointing Jesus at people, Not pointing people to Jesus. We are pointing our opinions because we're worried and we want our biblical ideas to be forced into our world because we're afraid of what happens if it doesn't.

You know what happens is? We win in the end. That's what he's saying about these guys. They live their life in faith of God and they never fully saw the promise, but they saw it. They knew it. They trusted God and they're living it out. They have the eternal life. They have the victory.

So yeah, when everybody wants me to talk about the topic of the day because that's the most important thing. And why do I keep saying people need to know Jesus,

You need to pray worship him. You need to be in the word. I say you need other people in your life that do the same thing. You need community. Get into some community. Don't just participate

in church, which means come every now and again and sit in a service. It's do you actually part Are you prioritizing it? Do you find the time for community, and then do you go live intentionally, which he's asked us to do? Go on mission. That means you take your time, your talent, your treasure, and your testimony,

and you live it out to point people to Jesus. That's what we're called to do. That's not the option. That's not the well, I'm thinking about it. I'm looking if I have the time. That is what he calls us to do. That's when he says, give to God what is God's. You are what is God's.

And so yeah, I am going to keep saying this and saying this until you know, grow or go or say, won't know. I won't grow. I'm just gonna go. And you'll go find another church to just participate in. But we need the room around here because people are coming to Jesus like crazy.

We're out of room. We need to build this building so we can get the money so we can build more seats here. So yeah, I'm gonna ask you to sacrifice, tithe and give above that. You know why? We need the broom. Four eighty four people stood up and put put their faith in Jesus just last week.

You know what the average size of a church is in The United States? 100. We just led five average sized churches to Jesus last week. And

we need the room. And you know what? They bring their kids. We need the kids. The ministry. We need the building. You know how many adults it takes or workers? They could be middle schoolers, high schoolers. It takes 600 volunteers

to run our children's ministry right now. That is six average sized churches. So yeah, we're gonna say serve.

Get involved because people are coming to Christ. And if you think that I'm a jerk because I keep telling you to give to and serve it, you don't understand what God wants from you and what he really wants for you. That's the game. That's the victory. Because that's where people find eternal life and you find victory.

And you're not gonna get it if you don't snap out of being stuck in this world. And that's why the fear leads to suffering, because you suffer. You miss out on what God has for you. You miss out on the real blessing. You miss out on peace that surpasses all understanding, and you live in your frustration,

your anger, and you are just a mean angry Christian. And you miss it. So yeah, we do. We need $6,000,000 I need Steve Austin to walk in here. If you laughed at that, you are old. And that's why I said it, because you're old enough to have the money we need.

Younger people, that's the bionic man. The $6,000,000 man was the name of the show.

But yeah But here's the good news. I know we already have this $6,000,000. We do. That's awesome, Yeah. It's still in your bank accounts, but we have it. I am not kidding. If every person that came to this church that said they're a Christian sacrificed financially, we would probably have $25,000,000 We really would.

That is I know the math. I know the math of the averages and how to I know how to math. And if you look at the statistics based on the size of the room and the median income in this area, we should easily be getting 20,000,000 a year in just in tithing and we could raise $2,530,000,000

dollars like that. If everyone who says they believe in Jesus and says this is our church prioritized their citizenship in heaven, we would have it done.

And that's what I want to point people to. The hope, not the fear. I mean, have you guys seen the movie Titanic? I don't wanna spoil the end for any of you. Was were any of you in there go, I wonder how this ends? No. You went to the movie knowing how it ends because we know what happened to the Titanic.

Well guess what? As Christians, we know how it ends. And just like the Titanic, that boat never got to New York. Well guess what? This other country that's eternal, The SS America will never get you there. The SS Society of the World will never get anybody there. You know what will? The lifeboats.

And that was the problem on the Titanic. You see, their boat sailed out and it was the best boat ever built. The most luxurious, the fastest. Literally, they thought they had designed it where it could not be sunk by the ocean.

They thought they were arrogant about it. And so they got so into the priority of speed and luxury, they forgot safety. And here's the deal. Speed and luxury is great to have in travel. Just go on a plane these days. I wish there was more luxury. I like the speed. I don't like the luxury.

But guess what? It's nice to be able to go faster in vehicles. I fly to Europe. I can get to England in ten hours. Just about a hundred years ago, it'd take three months and I might die from scurvy. But so here's the problem. There's nothing wrong with the speed and luxury. Just like in being involved in politics.

There is nothing wrong with us trying to make this society better. Jesus says we should. But what he is saying is no matter how nice it is, no matter how fast it goes, it ain't getting you to New York ever. We know the end.

So be involved in that. Great. But what we are called to do is the mission that they ignored. They ignored the safety because they were supposed to keep people from drowning or freezing to death in the water when they took the boat. And so what they had is they're supposed to have lifeboats.

So many people died not because the boat sank. If they had taken the the the safety precautions and the crew had been trained right and the captain had listened and they did everything right, nobody would have died. The boat would have sank, but nobody died. The boat wouldn't have made it, but everybody gets to New York.

But what went wrong? They prioritized

the niceness and the speed. So when they took off, the niceness prioritized. The biller said, you know what? The first glass section is if we put all of these lifeboats there, it ruins some of the views. It doesn't look nice. So they took off the amount of boats they had. They knew sailing there wasn't enough lifeboats for everybody.

Then they'd made everyone believe this thing is unsinkable. So everyone just went about their business. The captain believed it so much when he got warnings, he ignored them.

And then when the boat actually started to sink, people didn't take it serious at all, especially the crew that was should have been trained because they believed all the crud about, the boat will get us there. It'll get us there in record time.

The arrogance that thought they could get the perfect boat and get there, they've ignored the warning signs.

By the time they started loading people on the boat, they get the first class people over there. It was cold outside. They sat in the boat. It's half full. They go, how long are we gonna sit here? Because people weren't coming. They said, alright. We'll just send you out. So now on top of not having enough boats, they sent almost every boat out half full.

It wasn't until the last boats were going at the end that they realized when the water started coming up and they knew they were sinking and the chaos was going on, pandemonium happened. There was overrun. It was chaotic and the crew didn't know what to do.

So more people died. And

then when they rode out there, even though the crew and the people in the boats were so afraid that even though they're safe now, when they heard people screaming, even though their boat was half full, they wouldn't row back and pick people up because they're afraid we're gonna get pulled into the water.

How many of us that's how we act as the church? We're okay with our church half full. You hear the cries, you know what? If I go there, they might pull me down.

I need to keep my kids away from those people. I can't be around when you say you think the world's gonna taint you and drag you down. The world's not supposed to drag us down. We're supposed to lift them out.

Guys, our mission to prioritize, to be a part of the kingdom, the reason that's a lifeboat over there. The chairs in here is a lifeboat. And you know what? One of the reasons they didn't want to leave and then not come back is they also were like, We don't want the boat too crowded. It's too crowded in here. Guys,

why did I have so many people have to come? Why does Bill have to tell me to not come to the service? Guys, you wanna leave someone to Jesus? Go on Saturday night. I'm not kidding. Every time a 100 people from this service goes to Saturday, we reach a 100 people within a month. Every time.

Wow. That's gotta I'd rather just I don't wanna make room. Why? You see, it's the mentality. We are called we want to make the boat nice. But we also know it's just gonna be nice for so far. We are the crew that needs to be ready. And instead of complaining about how dark the world's getting and chaotic,

it's in the chaos when people finally see the water rising. They'll take your hand and they'll get in the boat. Have you ever thought that maybe we're in this world like Esther was for such a time as this? That God has put you in this era because it's chaotic. Not as a curse, but as we are called to such an incredible mission

that we get to be a part of. What would happen if you changed your perspective and thought of it that way? Because you know why you should think of it that way? Because that's what the bible says it is. So let's build the lifeboats.

Let's get involved. Let's serve. Let's prioritize the kingdom of God. Let's be the right. Let's be the crew of the Titanic, the SS America, that if this is sinking, if our society and our whole world is sinking, we are gonna get people into lifeboats because guess what? Then

more people will get to New York. More of us will get to that better country because that's what we're called to do. Amen? Father God, I thank you. Lord, I thank you that you do love us. I thank you for your word and your wisdom. And Lord, I thank you that we are in a crazy time and it feels hard to be a Christian.

But Lord the more I read of your scripture, even in this passage about these people of faith, the stories that talk about the greatest stories of faith were people placed in the darkest of times. So Lord, I pray that myself

and everyone in this room would remember that if I am a follower of Jesus and I'm a citizen of heaven, you've placed us in this dark time to be a light. And I pray we will shine that light. We will fill those lifeboats, and we will be faithful to what you did. But in the process, as you said to participate,

I do pray for my country right now. I pray for whoever's elected. I pray for the leaders, and I pray that this isn't the time when the ship sinks. I pray that we'll have more time and great times in order to point people to you until we take our last breaths. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Thanks for joining us for service online this weekend. Be sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the Rock Point Church app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.