Becoming the G.O.A.T. | A Message From Pastor Bryan Loritts

well bless the name of the lord one community isn't god good we serve a great god and um uh where i'm from we would say god is good all the time and all the time okay all right all right uh some of y'all traffic in the same circle if you have your bibles please meet me in matthew chapter 11. we're going to be hanging out in matthew chapter 11 was really encouraged by the interview uh i love golf myself hope golf is going to be in heaven it's just got to be in heaven uh it is it is that kind of a sport i want to just share with you a word that god has really put on my heart i believe for such a time as this and again it's tucked away in matthew chapter 11 let me just say thank you to pastor conway and his lovely wife jada the phenomenal leadership that they give here at one community church if your life has been bettered under their leadership would you just bless god right now for pastor conway and jada and of course for pastor matt and the rest of the staff and all that god is doing here matthew 11 pick me up in verse 1. matthew writes when jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities now when john that's john the baptist heard in prison about the deeds of the christ he sent word by his disciples and said to him are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another and jesus answered them go and tell john what you hear and see the blind receive their sight in the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them and bless is the one who is not offended by me and they went away as they went away jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning john what did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind what then did you go out to sea a man dressed in soft clothing behold those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses what then did you go out to see a prophet yes i tell you and more than a prophet this is he of whom it is written behold i send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you truly verse 11 i say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than john the baptist yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he from the days of john the baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force for all the prophets in the law prophesied until john and if you are willing to accept it he is elijah who is to come he who has ears to hear let him hear but to what shall i compare this generation it is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates we played the flute for you and you didn't dance we sing a dirge and you didn't mourn for john came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon the son of man came eating and drinking and they say look at him a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners yet wisdom is justified by her deeds one more time verse 11 truly i say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than john the baptist yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he i want to talk from a few moments becoming the goat becoming the goat the greatest of all time will you pray with me father i bless your name for what you are doing in this section of your vineyard and places in churches like one community for every life lord god that is saved 120 baptisms in one weekend we celebrate that we don't take that for granted lord god for the miracle of salvation for the singles who are being strengthened the kids who are being poured into the marriages that are being invested we we give you praise now lord god would you speak to us we need to hear a word from you come by and visit each heart in this place encourage us strengthen us challenge us but ultimately changes it's through that in lord god that i ask you one more time that you give me clarity of mind and concision of speech that i would be hidden behind your cross that you would be both with what i say and with how i say it may the seed of your word fall on good ground may it take root and produce fruit in jesus name i pray amen many of us in this room we've uh we've read a book written by ernest hemingway entitled the old man in the sea many of us have written have read this book the protagonist in the book is a guy by the name of santiago who is as you can guess an old man and he spends much of his time in this book at sea he's fishing in fact for 84 consecutive days santiago this old withered weathered man is out at sea and he's fishing and for 84 consecutive days he catches nothing now i don't know about you but i ain't got that kind of patience if i'm out fishing for 84 minutes and i catch nothing the lord ain't in it we packing up it's time to go back to the house this brother for 84 consecutive days is out fishing he catches nothing finally the next day the 85th day not only does he catch a fish it's the biggest fish he's ever seen in his life he he catches this marlin and immediately he thinks to himself man all the accolades that i'm going to be showered with when the people back at the dock back at shore see this finally there's a sense in which my existence is is going to be proven worthwhile he is now thinking i'm going to be lauded with the kind of accolades and encouragements that that i have been missing out on for all of my life he's excited to get this marlin back to shore but but there's a problem the problem is because he's an old man he doesn't have the strength the resources the capacity the wherewithal to pull this marlin into the boat and so what he does is he ties the marlin to the boat it's still in the sea he takes a spear and and he runs it through the marlin killing the marlin but this introduces now a greater problem the greater problem is now blood is leaking in the sea from this marlin other sharks see it and they start nibbling away at this marlin so that by the time santiago gets back to shore all he has to show for his efforts is the carcass the skeleton of a once great fish greatness had been in his grasp but he has nothing to show for it now this is interesting because hemingway scholars tell us that the old man in the sea it's actually ernest hemingway being a bit autobiographical here is ernest hemingway the author and he's at the end of his life he's looking through the rear view mirror of his life and on the one hand there have been seasons in his life where he's caught greatness fame check wealth check romance check but now he's at the end of his life and all of this has seemingly left him he's on the brink of financial ruin he's been married and divorced more than we can count he's struggling with with depression and if you know anything about ernest hemingway he would end up committing suicide what ernest hemingway teaches us is that when you and i try to find greatness in the seas of this world independent from jesus christ we will always come up empty nothing can stretch you where your souls itch no amount of money no amount of wealth no amount of fame no amount of accolades can bring you the satisfaction that only the eternal living jesus christ can the issue here is not greatness because our passage is all about greatness again look at verse 11. jesus says truly i say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than john the baptist yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he jesus doesn't have a problem with greatness in fact he wants us to be great he says that the least in the kingdom of heaven in other words if you're in the kingdom of heaven you're called to greatness you can experience greatness the problem jesus has is where you're fishing now i understand some of us right now we um we have problem with the goat conversation maybe you're thinking of muhammad ali and the self-proclaimed great greatest of all time and you're going well that sounds a little narcissistic that we would want to go after greatness we have goat conversations all over the place especially in basketball right now there's the goat conversation and some people are saying uh lebron is those people ain't saved [Music] i'm gonna make an altar call y'all shouting over here about lebron y'all come right down front he ain't the greatest his sequel wouldn't wasn't even as great as the original space jam but anyways [Applause] but we understand who the greatest is in basketball michael jordan let the redeemed of the lord say so i knew this was a holy and sanctified church we have these conversations in fact the olympics just wrapped up and we were having the conversations about the goat in olympics when it comes to gymnastics and i think simone biles is helping us to lengthen the conversation simone biles taught us that greatness isn't just what you do in competition greatness is being an advocate for your own mental health greatness is sitting in the stands and cheering on your teammates that's greatness our text is all about greatness and so here we are in our text the greek word matthew's originally writing in a language called greek the greek word for greater it it's literally the word mega it's it's the idea of extent in a line of trees it's the tallest tree it's the it's the fastest car it's the biggest lake it's the idea of extent so that the idea of greater is really the idea of meaning value and significance god through his son jesus is saying people who are in the kingdom of heaven followers of me should be experiencing the most satisfying life here on earth why because what jesus is going to teach us here is that when you and i commit our lives to him and when we measure our lives by the metrics of the kingdom of heaven and not by the metrics of this world we will attain true goat status and live the most satisfying life one could ever live and we will leave our marks for all of eternity i don't know about you but i want that i absolutely want that well where is greatness found our text is going to show us four places we try to find greatness that greatness cannot be found in and then it's going to show us the one place where greatness can be laid hold of as our text opens up john the baptist is in jail he's in jail because he's been embroiled in the greatest scandal of his day there's a guy by the name of king herod king herod is king of the jews he is uh operating a measure of authority under roman rule the romans have allowed him a measure of authority and king herod has committed an egregious act king herod has actually seduced his brother's wife yes his sister-in-law away from his brother causing the dissolution and divorce of that marriage you talk about a scandal here you have a political leader engrossed in great immorality and no one has the backbone to call a spay to spay no one has the backbone to call out the immorality of their political leader but john the baptist john the baptist gets a biblical backbone and calls out truth to power oh let me just stop here and say this never let your politics blind you to what is truthful based out of the truth of scriptures you ought to be able to call out sin no matter who it is no matter if it's the leader of your political party or the leader of the other political party do not excuse immorality or sin in anybody's life john the baptist calls it out and he gets thrown in jail while in jail he sends his disciples to have a conversation with jesus and jesus watch it now says of john the baptist that here he is while he's in jail while he's incarcerated while he is living the life of a felon he says no one is greater than him the first thing jesus wants us to understand is that greatness is not ultimately found in our circumstances greatness is not ultimately found in our circumstances i had a conversation the other day i checked in on some good friends of mine they've been going through the ringer they've lost their job they're about to run out of money they've lost their housing things are going south with their kids it's just been really really hard i called to check in on them things have not gotten better and in tears the wife said something to me something i shall never forget she says you know what brian we are learning right now that circumstances and situations are a horrible foundation to build your life on circumstances and situations are a horrible foundation to build your life on someone needs to hear that right now you're going through some very hard circumstances right now life has gotten really difficult right now maybe some of you right now have just gotten out of prison and you've got this uh felon on your record and every time you go to get a job people are looking at you crazy and funny and maybe there's a sense of low self-esteem creeping in you you got to learn to base your self-esteem not on what potential employers say but what on what the word of god says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world you are more than conquerors through christ jesus others of you your situation and circumstance may be a health crisis others of you your situation and circumstance maybe you're battling infertility you thought you could have a kid on your own timetable and here it's been years later there's a sense of shame and you're doubting your own self-worth what this passage teaches us is that greatness is never found in my situation or circumstances in life but i want to press this further here is john the baptist he's sitting in jail he gets his disciples and he he sends them out to jesus delivering a message from john the message is are you the one are you the one meaning are you the messiah let me just stop right here what do you mean john the baptist you're asking this question which is assuming you are doubting as to whether or not jesus is the one you need to understand jesus is the cousin of john the baptist there's a story in luke where elizabeth john the baptist's mother is pregnant with john the baptist she goes to visit mary while she's pregnant with jesus and in utero john the baptist senses the presence of the messiah and starts doing flips and cartwheels in utero and you're going are you the one or maybe we can go to matthew 3 who baptizes jesus john the baptist john what do you mean you're right there you saw the heavens open up you saw the holy spirit descend on jesus as a dove you heard god the father say this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased and now you're doubting are you the one oh friends this blesses me i'm here to tell you you can grow up in church you could have gone to all the sunday school stuff been at vacation bible school you could have memorized all the scriptures going to all the bible studies you may even have a bible college or seminary degree you may even be a pastor but keep on living and things will happen in your life in which you go are you real there will be times with what i have learned conflicts with what i am experiencing come on somebody let's be real there will be times when you're filled with doubt now watch this not once does jesus chastise john for his doubt doubt ain't wrong in fact you can't have faith without doubt faith says i'm going to keep moving even though i don't have absolute clarity faith says i'm going to keep walking even though i don't know all the answers faith says i'm going to keep pushing i'm going to keep praying even though there's doubts jesus is god enough to handle your doubt now watch this john says hey guys ask jesus if you're the one translation i'm sitting here in prison if you the one get me about this bad boy do the jedi mind trick send the angels do do an earthquake open up the bars if you are who you say you are change my situation now watch what happens i hope you shout it already because you ain't gonna shout on this one scholars tell us that jesus's response is based loosely on the first sermon he ever preaches this first sermon is found in luke 4 listen carefully look at it with me jesus says the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to proclaim liberty liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty there it is again liberty liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the lord's favor now watch what he says in our text matthew 11 verse 4 and jesus answered them so he's talking now to john's disciples who say are you the one he says go and tell john what you see and hear the blind receive their sight the lame walk lepers are cleansed deaf here and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them what did he leave out setting the captives free in other words john i am everything i said i am and no john you ain't getting out of jail i am the messiah and you ain't getting out that's why he ends by saying and blessed is the one who isn't offended by me what jesus now is coming for he is pronouncing the eulogy of prosperity theology prosperity theology we have these name it and claim it confess it and possess it nab it and grab it preaching heretics who say if you have enough faith your mama will get healed if you have enough faith you'll get the brand new range rover with 26 inch rims if you give enough money you'll never get sick that is a lie out of the pit of hell and it thrives in poor urban communities because it gives our people a false sense of hope now hear me pray without ceasing that the cancer will leave your body hear me you exercise faith and you believe don't be the double-minded man in james chapter one who is unstable you believe god for healing you believe god for the miracle you believe god for financial provision but understand at the end of the day god is not handcuffed by your faith he's god whether or not he heals or she dies he is god whether or not the miracle happens is still god our situation and our circumstances are no commentary on who god is and so god is saying why are you really following me are you following me for the benefits package or are you following me because i am worthy i am not your genie in a bottle i am the god who said let there be light and there is light that's the god i am yes john i am the one no you ain't getting out of prison because god is more concerned about his glory than he is your comfort and sometimes god sovereignly selects some who will go through horrendous suffering but will do it in such a way that god gets infinite times more glory than you sitting on your sofa at home and nothing is wrong greatness is not found in my circumstances but secondly greatness is not found in my status as they went away verse 7 jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning john what did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind what then did you go out to sea here it is a man dressed in soft clothing behold those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses jesus helps us understand there are kinds of individuals who walked around and what he calls soft clothing when you knew that when you saw that you knew they were a person of status they were associated with kings often times these individuals who wore soft clothing they were they were people who were the king's couriers they delivered messages to and from the king you saw them and you go that is somebody jesus said that ain't john if you want to know what john looked like what he wore look at matthew 3 4 with me on the screen now john wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist and his food was locus and wild honey no status so dad just imagine with me dads you girl dads especially you're sitting in your house one day and there's a knock on the door you open it up and there's a man dressed like john the baptist he looks disheveled he's got bed head scruffy his breath ain't pleasant you eat locust and wild honey i don't think you got good smelling breath and he says hey sir i've been hanging out with your daughter for a while and i've come to ask permission to marry your daughter you're like this is crazy i've never heard of you the first time i'm seeing you in my life what do you do he says i'm a preacher where's your church well we don't have a building we're in the middle of the wilderness well where do you live i live near my church in the middle of the wilderness how are you doing financially not good sir only thing i can afford is locust and wild honey you're like you got my daughter eating locusts and wild honey you google him and you find out that this individual is a convicted felon he's on his way to jail you say thanks but no thanks god bless you but but you can't marry my daughter undeterred a couple days later he shows up with his cousin jesus jesus says i can vouch for this man and you discover that jesus is 33 years old single homeless rejected by most and headed for the cross here you have two individuals no status two individuals who are rejected two individuals who would not fit into the culture of plano two individuals who would never be caught dead walking down certain streets and yet they are the greatest who have ever lived listen i know exactly where i am this is the beautiful part of dallas this is the beautiful people i told you last time my my wife will never find out about legacy west that little street with all them cute stores she will never know that exists i come home she's like how was your trip oh funny it was pray for me i hated the waffle house and she'll never know about that place listen to me god is not opposed to nice things he's not opposed to you having nice things he is opposed to those nice things having you some of you all think you are special because of what you drive some of you think you're special because of the letters behind your name some of you think you are special because of your zip code some of you think you are special because of the job that you have listen baby naked you came into this world naked you shall return it ain't coming with you so why both in stuff that didn't die for you you are not that lexus you are not that mercedes you are not that gucci you are a child of the living god but thirdly greatness is not found in my circumstances it's not found in my status this was going to hurt thirdly it ain't found in my religion greatness is not found in my religion god has authorized four definitive biographies on the life of his son jesus we call them the gospels matthew mark luke and john what makes matthew's gospel different is who he writes to matthew is writing to the most religious people to have ever walked the face of this earth the jews here are the jews they are in the synagogue every week here are the jews they've memorized the first five books of the bible they memorized genesis exodus leviticus leviticus leviticus numbers in deuteronomy i mean they've memorized this they're at the temple in high and holy days they're going to the temple all the time offering sacrifices for their sins the average jew gave almost 20 of their annual income to the lord and yet the very fact that matthew writes his gospel to religious people tells us that religion can't save you the gospel and religion are two very different things religion says i do the gospel says it's done religion is works driven the gospel is grace driven religion is about me the gospel is about god the problem with the church of jesus christ is we have way too many religious people who think they're going to heaven based on their church attendance their giving report their acts of service that stuff doesn't save you it is only the grace of god through jesus christ our lord and savior jesus hits on this this is why jesus says in verse 16 look at it but to what shall i compare this generation it is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates we played the flute for you and you didn't dance we sing a dirge and you didn't mourn what does this mean at weddings when the dj played the flute that was your clue that was your clue to dance that was your clue to electric slide to the left to the left that was your clue to wobble that was your clue to cupid's shuffle he says we played the flute you didn't respond the way you should have he said we sing the dirge you didn't mourn you sing a dirge at funerals and when you heard the dirge it was your cue to mourn here's what jesus is saying i came to you religious people bringing the gospel and you refused me john says he came unto his own the jews religious people that's why jesus says in our text verse 12 the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force what does this mean in context he's saying the kingdom of heaven is being abused who's it being abused by tithing scripture quoting synagogue attending animal sacrificing religious people because the spirit of religion says i can have it my way i can get to god on my terms so let me press into this let me give you a sophisticated analogy suppose i invite you out for a steak dinner my dime i say i'm taking you to dale frisco's we're gonna have a great steak you sit down and the waiter comes and the waiter says can i take your order and you say i want a filet you order the motherload of all filets i'm high-fiving you in jesus's name yes sorry to offend you vegans but i high-five you then the waiter says how would you like that prepared and you have the nerve and i know i'm talking to a room mostly of black people and we do this and it drives me nuts you have the nerve to say well done i plead with you i say brother that cow did not die for you to burn it that is not how you were supposed to experience it it's supposed to be medium that's where the taste is that's where the pleasure is but you insist well done well done you have to have it your way and in the process you ruined the experience jesus says the problem with the kingdom is that people religious people are ordering it well done [Music] i have to have it my way i can come to god and shack up with my girlfriend i can come to god and live any old life i can live i can come to god and be as greedy as i want and not give any money to the work of his kingdom and the advancement of his church i can come to god and raise hell i can come to god and live any other kind of way i want to live monday through saturday and walk into the house of god lifting up holy hands i can do this christianity thing on my terms jesus says you are abusing the kingdom of heaven the tragedy of hell hell will have many parking spaces reserved for deacons elders pastors preachers worship leaders choir members religious as the day is long but the gospel never got here greatness ain't found in my circumstances it ain't found in my status it ain't found in my religion fourthly it ain't found and whether or not you accept me john the baptist was rejected he's in jail jesus christ goes to the cross again he came unto his own and his own received him not rejected rejected rejected and yet the greatest to have ever lived do not base your sense of self-esteem on whether or not people accept you or approve of you [Applause] so where's greatness found jesus tells us as we end verse 11 truly i say to you among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than john the baptist yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he jesus what in the world how in the world can you say john the baptist was the greatest he can't be greater than abraham the father of the jewish faith who left er of the chaldeas you're saying he's greater than him yes he can't be greater than moses that legendary liberator and law giver who opened up the red sea and the people walked through on dry ground the greatest event in the old testament he can't be greater than are you saying he's greater than him yes he can't be greater than elijah and elisha their ministry was marked by the supernatural john the baptist didn't perform miracles are you saying that he's greater than them yes he can't be greater than than esther esther this great woman of god stood in front of jashueras and pleaded for her jewish people for such a time as this are you saying he's greater than her yes what's the difference jesus wants us to understand the difference is is that john the baptist's ministry was to prepare the way for jesus in that sense john the baptist the difference between john the baptist and every other person is that his life in ministry was tied to the person of jesus christ and he is saying when our lives are tied not to what we drive when our lives are tied not to our zip codes when our lives are tied not to the letters behind our name when our lives are tied not to our marital status but when our lives are tied to jesus we become the goats the greatest of all time because he is the greatest of all time so i want to know do you have jesus i ain't asking do you have religion i'm asking you what church you go to do you have the one who is the same yesterday today and forever do you have the one who will never leave you or forsake you do you have the one that while we were yet sinners romans 5 8 says god demonstrated his love towards us and that while we were yet sinners christ died for us do you have the one who has seen every sin you have ever committed are committing and will ever commit and will say i've paid for it all because i love it i love you do you have that one oh friends do not believe the lie of the world greatness ain't found here at some point god will say give me back my breath i don't care how many kale salads you've eaten you coming up out this bad boy and the only one that can save you is jesus christ so father i pray right now i pray right now in the name of jesus i believe right now under the sound of my voice there are there are people right now in this room and you're in two camps one camp you are legitimately saved you're legitimately saved you've just gotten off course and as i'm speaking god's been speaking and the spirit of god has just been identifying areas in your life where you've sought to found greatness independent of him and today god is saying i'm calling you to repent of that others of you you're here today and you're not saved you don't have a relationship with jesus and i believe that in the sovereignty of god when adam and eve were looking for a fig leaf to hide under he he appointed that you would be here today even in spite of all your religiosity that you might hear the truth of the gospel and i come not offering you religion i come offering you a relationship a relationship with jesus christ and today you need to say yes to jesus so i don't know how y'all roll here at one community but we're just gonna go a little old school right now if that's you and you know it's you follower of jesus i've just lost my focus i've drifted been there done that got got a couple t-shirts and the hat you're seeking to find greatness independent of jesus i want to invite you would you just come and just have someone pray with you an act of repentance someone else you need to get saved today the bible says hebrews says the day you hear my voice heart not your heart so father would you release yourself in this room right now jesus you said if you be lifted up you would draw all men unto yourself i've done my best to lift you up now you do the drawing in jesus name amen right now would you come would you come you're here you're here you're here yes yes yes yes someone else yes someone else would you come you might be up in the state yes would you come would you come would you come would you come i'm not gonna manipulate anyone you know the spirit is speaking yes would you come would you come would you come yes playing praying back there someone else would you come yes yes yes yes yes i'll wait a few more moments would you come yes yes yes yes amen brother someone else would you come yes [Applause] spirit of the living god continue to do your work we give ourselves lord god under the power of your spirit to pursuing true greatness which is connected to your son jesus the christ it is in his name we pray these things amen

Channel: One Community Church

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Length: 40min 53sec (2453 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021