Gateway Church | January 24 | Rabbi Troy Wallace

[Music] there is a life and abundant life and a love that we can find in jesus that we can find nowhere else so let's sing to him today come on let's worship you have come we have [Music] never ending you [Music] let's put our hands together as we sing [Music] the world to see now you were alone and made a way for us [Music] [Music] i [Music] is [Music] to see that [Music] and every [Music] [Applause] living in the [Music] you are [Music] is [Music] jesus you are here in this place god we honor you we worship you we love you thank you [Music] jesus i can't get enough can't get enough of your amazing love no i can't get enough i can't walk away no i can't walk away for i have seen your face i can't walk away i just wanna be where you are i just wanna be near [Music] no there is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh i can't get enough [Applause] i can't get enough of your amazing love [Music] no i can't get enough [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign i just want to be where you are [Music] [Music] there is nothing like your love oh sing it to him cause there is there's nothing like your love god just sing out to him just sing out your heart to god [Music] we want to see you here god we want more of you jesus let's sing our praises to you god [Music] you are holy holy jesus i love you jesus i love you sing this again [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] jesus i just want to there is nothing like your love [Applause] i just wanna be where you are i just wanna be near your heart [Music] there is nothing like your love [Music] oh there is not being compared to you [Music] please i just wanna be where you are [Music] i just wanna be near your heart god cause there is nothing like your love as there is nothing like your love one of the things i love so much about worship especially when we come together in corporate worship whether you're joining us in your home online or you're here in this room is that god comes so close when we lift him up in our hearts and with our mouths together he comes close and every time i believe that he longs to show us something more about him and i believe this weekend today he wants to show and reveal to you some places in your lives maybe in your past maybe in your current situation that he is at work with his redemptive grace would you close your eyes just for a moment all across this room and online i believe as we sing the words to this new song god wants to just open our eyes open our ears open our hearts to see situations and see the circumstances going around around right now in our lives and see them through the lens of his grace see the places where things seem broken but he's at work behind the scenes with his grace with his power with his strength showing up with work gloves in our lives staging our rescue to get us out of situations maybe we can't even see our way out of but he's at work his grace is at work so as we sing these um words as we sing this song i want your heart to be connected and reflect on the fact and the ways that god may be showing up in your life today thank you tell me the story tell me again that i was a drifter that you welcomed in sing me your mercy sing me that song that here in your goodness is belong [Music] i can see the shadows of my past fading in my father's eyes feels like the first time i'm really alive i can hear the ruins of my heart learning how to beat then against [Music] it sounds like grace to me thank you for your grace and savior you loved me just as i was with grace beyond measure for all that's to come and all in one moment you shift the tone you scatter my burdens and steady my soul i can see the shadows of my past fading in my father's eyes feels like the first time i'm really alive i can hear the ruins of my heart learning how to beat again it sounds like grace to me oh how sweet the sound oh i sweet the sound oh i'll sweet the sounds [Music] the sounds then suddenly and suddenly it sounds like grace to me [Music] let your grace fall down on us oh you've been so good to us [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the [Music] the me [Music] your grace is more than enough [Music] uh grace how sweet the sound [Music] like me but now i'm found [Music] i see [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thus far and grace will lead me home [Music] the amazing grace [Music] like me i was lost but now i'm found [Music] aren't you grateful for his amazing grace god we thank you for your unrelenting always pursuing no matter what we've done chasing after us grace thank you for the ways that you're at work in our lives behind the scenes right now with your grace weaving together stories that we couldn't come up with even if we tried god i thank you for speaking to every heart opening our eyes to see you at work opening our ears to what you want to say to us today we love you in jesus name amen aren't you glad you showed up today that was rough are you glad you showed up today all right that's more like it you're going to be cheering at a football game probably later today so i'm going to judge you based on your engagement here but god is here and we're so glad that you are especially if you're new we know that that can be a challenge to find a new place or maybe you're just coming back to god for the first time in a long time and we want to help you find your home here and one of the ways that we ask people to kind of take a step towards us so that we can walk with you along that journey is to text the word begin to two four five eight seven is that right i've said it so many times i don't even know 2 4 5 8 7 and and there's some next steps there and we just want to be able to come alongside you so if you have a device you can take it out now um we won't spam you we promise but we do want to be a part of what god is doing in your life so and speaking of new we've had so many new faces coming along and not just um new to our church but new to following jesus and that's a big deal or maybe coming back to faith and learning to discover who they are in god and we are so serious about growing here that we've put together some resources that we want you to take advantage of so i want you to take a look at the screen and see what we've worked up for you you said yes so now what [Music] now a rebirth a renewal a restoration a restart a new path an understanding of who you are created to be not a repeat performance of a once-known life it is an exposure to what was which no longer exists and what is [Music] it is a revelation to what is life-changing and what is true it is a call to submit to his plan and his purpose it is returning from the old and turning to the new and empowerment to live a life of hope and wholeness become the you that you were created to be newbelievers.com you know i'm really excited that i get the opportunity to introduce a guest speaker that we have this weekend and it's not someone we had to fly in in fact it's one of our very own here um at gateway and it is rabbi troy wallace he is if you know jen and troy you know they are a solid huge part of what god has been doing here she's on staff with us he's been an integral part their whole family has oh what god's been doing for years and i am so excited i feel like i'm about to offer you a gift and you're going to be like whoa this guy was just sitting here in this in the audience with us like you're going to want to get to know this family if you don't already know so we want you to lean in and just get excited for what god wants to deposit in your heart today but before you sit down before we do that i want you if you're comfortable to step out of your seat look around you because you might find another troy wallace in the crowd right now we want you to connect to the gems and the jewels that god has brought here and so each week we create space to do that find someone you maybe haven't seen in a while or someone you don't know and ask them one of the crazy amazing incredible questions from our connection app but takes time to get to know people before you sit down [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] good morning gateway church how are you all right so for the 10 of you that are good i hope the other other amount of you are also good even though you're not as vocal i just want to welcome those who are joining us online or at uh or at our tempe campus we're so glad that you're here this morning you know we're in the middle of the real jesus series and we've been talking a little bit about the jewishness of jesus over the last few weeks you know there's really three ways that we know that jesus is jewish you know what you want to know what those three ways are he lived at home till he was 30. he was in the family business and his mom thought he was the messiah so it's a fact jesus is jewish but seriously will you lift up your bible or maybe your your tablet or your phone i just want to ask you a question do you love this book well you know what the serve team prepared for you to be able to prove your love for the book this morning we're going to distribute some honey and we're going to pour it all over our book and our phones and our tablets and then we're going to lick it off together you guys ready to do that if you didn't get that joke that was from pastor brad last week and i just want to encourage you check out gatewaylife.com not only brad's sermon from last week but pastor preston the two weeks to set up this series it's just been such a gift to be able to dig into the word together thinking about who jesus is a little bit more all right now this time i am serious look at the book or the device in your hand do you really love this book i know that we're supposed to love it and for some of us i think we really do but others of us if we set aside the religious expectations of other people and we're honest we struggle to love it is that you you know that's me sometimes and i just want to say there's no shame there's no condemnation in that it's just sometimes it's a challenge to let ourselves get into this book you know if we realize that some of the stories in here are like seriously r-rated movie themes we might get a little more interested i'm pretty sure that if some of the things in here were committed to film my mom definitely wouldn't have let me watch it in the 80s now what if i say how about the old testament like does that make that anxiety about reading the bible grow even higher i mean i think about how many people wait in line all overnight for the old iphone not many people do you know what i'm saying it's like a marketing language and i wonder are you willing to be honest with me that the old testament's hard sometimes you don't have to be embarrassed just because i'm a rabbi but my question for you is though we all struggle do we want to struggle like i i don't think any of us sit around and go oh yeah i like struggling with reading the bible but even though it's true for us sometimes i i don't think that the lord wanted to be like this is who he is and it speaks to us and if we can push through i think we can overcome that struggle you know uh maybe you're you're here or you're joining us online because your spouse or your parent or your colleague convinced you to do so you're not sure what you think about jesus or bible or anything at all maybe you just googled randomly and all of a sudden you're joining us online i just want to say if you're not sure about that that's okay with me but as we spend some time together the next few minutes i'm hoping that with if you're hearing this story for the first time or maybe you're hearing it for a second time but you're doing it through new ears our hope for you is that you'll walk away thinking about something a little different than you did when we began today that's our prayer for you and that's our hope for you now no matter where you are in your journey or how you landed to be here with us today i want to talk to you about something that i hope will create a deeper appreciation for the entirety of this book it's a simple statement jesus is the central figure of the story of the whole bible from cover to cover my title this morning for this talk is in fact from cover to cover the real jesus is from cover to cover now i don't know how many of you are nerds in here i got two hands up i just want you know i'm double nerd so there's some theology that will be underlying what i'm going to talk about today i'm not going to point it out explicitly except in a couple places but those theological terms there's three i'll give them to you the christophany the incarnation and just to spice it up a little bit i'm going to talk about eschatology now i know some of you just went he's going to talk about the end times no no no it'll be real soft i promise but please as we go through i want to ask you to let this speak to your heart and not just your brain pastor preston started out the series by saying hey we're digging into this not to build up our intellect but to build up our intimacy pastor brad last week said hey this isn't about scholarship it's about stewardship and so i ask you again would you let this speak to your heart and not just your brain can we pray together before we begin holy spirit we welcome you open our minds and stir our hearts as we pressed into just who jesus is show us all truth yeshua jesus we ask that you would open our eyes to this book and to develop in us an insatiable appetite for all the good and truth and life that it proclaims our father in heaven show us the glory of your son we love him and we want to know him more hashem yeshua in jesus name can you say it together with me amen well i want to ask you to turn to two places in your bible genesis 18 and revelation 1. genesis 18 revelation 1. if you don't have a bible or you're just following along i think everything will be on the screen but that's where i want to begin the story of our time together today you know the story of the bible is the story of the god of israel and that's where the story begins of course the the biblical account begins with creation and noah but very quickly we get into the story of of abraham and how how god said that abraham believing in him was credited with righteousness so that it would impact all the families of the earth i think we've gotten that set up for us pretty well in this series but if we look at genesis 18 verses 1 and 2 i just want you to see something here about abraham's life story it says in verse 1 of genesis 18 then the lord appeared to him abraham by the terebinth trees of mom ray as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day verse 2 so he abraham lifted his eyes and looked and behold three men were standing by him and when he abraham saw them he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself down to the ground now i don't know how many of you are familiar with this story but the story continues that abraham hosts a meal at which the lord appeared as one of three men and if any of you are familiar with with rabbinics at all i just want to point out that abraham serves the god of israel in the form of a man milk and meat together who appeared if you look at the text who is it that appeared it just says the lord jude hey vavhay appears to abraham what form did he take he was one of three men let me just repeat those two things we answered two questions who appeared the lord in what form as a man what was abraham's response what did abraham do it says in hebrew vaishtaku he bowed down in worship it wasn't like a polite bow like to honor someone he got down on the ground and worshipped the god of israel in the form of a man now i ask you this how does abraham know who he is like he hasn't even spoken yet how does abraham know who he is well i think it's because abraham recognized him it's the same one that spoke to him in genesis 12 and told him to leave his dad's house leave his his family and go out and start a new family it's the same guy that appeared to him in genesis 15 in a flame of fire in a smoking pot that's what a lot of translations say it's the same guy that appears to him there and it's the same guy that appears to him in genesis 17 just the chapter before you know what happens in genesis 17 god asked abraham to take all of the males of his household and take upon themselves the sign of the covenant with the people of israel i'm not going to go into any more detail than that but i do think about you know the sign of the covenant for the jewish people is a little different than the sign of the covenant for the nations through noah you know the nations get the rainbow and the jewish people get circumcision so if you're comparing the two things and you're a gentile like you should celebrate the rainbow you know what i'm saying oh boy well there's a lot of stories like that that's just one that's really clear with abraham and he's the father of our faith jews and gentiles together abraham's the father of our faith i want to point out just a couple of other ones because i think they're fun i'm going to tell them to you though instead of read them to you if you're interested in the details the you version notes are available through the youversion bible app but in exodus 3 moses has an encounter with someone that's described in the text as malach adonai or the messenger the angel of the lord the angel of the lord appears next to a bush in a flame of fire look at this text later it's extraordinary what happens and i want to point out from the beginning it's not the bush that's on fire it's the angel of the lord the messenger of the lord appears in the midst of a fire so you got to change all the coloring sheets for sunday school you can't color the bush anymore you got to color the angel the messenger of the lord three people laughed i'm grateful for those um what does moses do well moses interacts with him and he says hey the place where i'm standing is holy you need to take off your shoes and worship me now you know if this was just a regular angel we know from john's experience in the book of revelation that we're not allowed to worship regular angels you remember that in john's experience he says hey hey the angel says to john don't worship me i'm just a servant like you but this one demands worship it's a different experience altogether what about joshua 5. joshua is one of my favorite heroes in the bible i'm going to take a drink here not just because he's a war leader but his war leader his his place as a warrior was birthed out of intimacy in the tabernacle oh man that's a lot of that's something good for some men in here and this figure appears to joshua it says in the text a man appeared adam same as the name of adam a man appeared to joshua and joshua being a good warrior goes hey are you for us are you for our enemies i love the messenger of the lord's response he says no i wonder sometimes about us do we go to the lord and say hey are you for us are you for the other guys are you for the red team are you for the blue team who are you for god's answer is no the question is whose side are you on the question is are you with me or you against me i'm gonna take with him i don't know about y'all but that's what i'm gonna take and this figure says i didn't come to figure out if i was on your side or not joshua i came as the prince of the lord's armies and what does he say to him my presence here makes this place holy you better take off your shoes bow down and worship me it's incredible this figure shows up everywhere i'm gonna just talk about one more place ezekiel 1. anybody ever read ezekiel 1 one like i would love if all the people that worked for dreamworks would come to to a knowledge of who yeshua is as the messiah so that they could put this sequence in like vivid technicolor it would be incredible but but ezekiel sees into the heavenly throne room he sees all these creatures one as a man's face an eagle's face and a lion's face like it's crazy what he sees right into the glorious throne room of heaven and what is at the top of that glorious visitation adam a man sitting in a chair and ezekiel freaks out and falls down like he's dead you know what the rabbis say about ezekiel 1 the rabbis say you can't read ezekiel 1 without the guidance of a rabbi or only or one of two things will happen you'll either go crazy or you'll become apostate which means you'll become a believer in jesus because the picture is so vivid now i want to read just one more passage from the tanakh from the hebrew scriptures from the old testament this is from daniel 10. now let me just say who daniel is daniel's a prophet among the people of israel that god said god assigned him to serve as a counselor to three pagan kingdoms you want to be a prophet great you get to serve three pagan kingdoms i'm not sure that sounds like something that any of us really want to sign up for but daniel in chapter 10 says this he says i lifted my eyes and look and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose waist was girded with the gold of effus his body like barrel his face like the appearance of lightning his eyes like torches of fire his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude skip down to verse nine yet i i heard the sound of his words and while i heard the sound of his words i was in a deep sleep on my face with my face to the ground daniel sees this this certain man says ish in the text this unique man this specific man daniel sees him and describes him and falls down as dead here's my summary thought the god of israel appears in the form of a man throughout the hebrew scriptures and is worshiped by the forefathers heroes and prophets of israel sometimes this figure is described as a messenger or an angel sometimes he's described as the word sometimes he's glorious in appearance like ezekiel sometimes he just appears like a man with abraham 56 references from genesis to malachi have an have a description of this figure in the text of the hebrew scriptures the god of israel is personal and intimate with the people of israel throughout the record of scripture and they worship him when they see him one more scripture before we move to point number two this is from revelation 1. john has the experience of the book of revelation and this is how it starts out i want you to catch the description of what john says he says in verse 10 i heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet that voice was saying i am the alpha and the omega the first and the last let me pause anybody use red letter edition to use a red letter edition of the text at home i am the alpha and the omega the first and the last jesus is saying those words and when john turned to look and see jesus this is what he saw 13. in the midst of the seven lamp stands one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with the golden band his head and hair were white like wool as white as snow in his eyes like a flame of fire his feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many water and when i john saw him i fell at his feet as dead do you catch the the imagery here it's exactly the same as daniel the only difference is it's jesus and john is his best friend and john's response to his best friend in a glorious appearance is to fell down at his feet as if dead just like daniel just like abraham at the covenant of the parts in genesis 15. you know but that's not the the end of the story of course you all know that the story continues the god of israel got born like do we d have we dealt with that in our minds the god of israel got born he became a man and and i think about john's experience you know he's jesus best friend like he laid on jesus chest at the passover meal jesus calls him or john calls himself the one whom jesus loved that guy's got so much confidence john's also the only man at the cross he's the only man from the disciples of of yeshua of jesus at the cross i want to point out that there are lots of women there because ladies are always first go ladies john took care of jesus's mom after he died like john's super tight with jesus now i'm of the opinion that john wrote his gospel after he had his revelation experience that's why his gospel is so different than the synoptics and john i'm imagining as a writer is going you know i lived with this guy i lived with him for three and a half years we walked around together and i saw him in his glorious appearance but i didn't get that when i was walking around with him on the shores of galilee and ministering in jerusalem like i i how do i explain this to my readers i think this is how he explains it in the beginning was the word and the word was wish god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth john is overwhelmed by his experience and he's not sure how to explain it to us and this is his attempt and he uses the in the beginning language just like the bible begins in genesis 1. what's the point the agent of creation was born and i don't know if you're like troy we know that maybe it's just me maybe i'm just overwhelmed by the science of it all can i do some science with you for a minute i don't know if you've ever thought about this but half of who jesus is was way down deep inside of mary and the angel gabriel invites her to something and she says so let it be done unto me and the other 23 i think it's 23 chromosomes are added to the human zygote inside of her by the holy spirit like that just blows my mind i mean it's no wonder joseph was like whatever mary you understand i mean we know about the birds and the bees but if my wife came home and said i'm pregnant but not by a man i'd be like hey we're gonna have to have a conversation john also points out an implication of his encounter with jesus in the book of revelation a few verses later in verse 18 of john 1. he says this no one has seen god at any time let me just pause no one it's not gender it's not male or female no one has seen god meaning god the father 95 of the time in the new testament text god means god god means god the father just by the way so let me continue the only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him he has made him known now john says this here and across his writings he says something similar to this that no man has seen god the father at any time he says that four additional times in his writings but it's not just john that says it let a thing be established in the mouth of two witnesses or more paul also says it three times that no one has seen god at any time or that god himself is is invisible the father but the son has declared him has made him known what's the implication of that an appearance of god across the sweep of scripture is the son declaring the father everywhere in this book when there's an appearance of jude hey vape when there's an appearance sometimes of elohim when that happens it's the son declaring the father i didn't say it john said it five times and paul said it three times have you ever thought about that who is adam walking in the cool of the day with who does hagar see and says oh the one i see sees me what about jacob who does jacob wrestle with who does jacob see at the top of a ladder what about the the elders of israel they're on mount sinai they can they sit with god and they have a fellowship meal with him what samson's parents oh you want to read a great story judges 13. it's a crazy good story you should totally read it i don't have time isaiah zachariah they all saw some form of the god of israel and john and paul tell us that it's the son declaring the father like this this blows my mind every time i think about it but maybe it's just because i'm a nerd so here's the here's the crazy thing we covered the incarnation it's not just that he was born he submitted himself to the authority of broken humanity the agent of creation became one of us and then submitted himself to our authority structures which are covered in the effects of sin it's mind-numbing and it starts with this family luke 2 jesus is bar mitzvah the way some people refer to it jesus is coming of age his parents take him to jerusalem for for passover for the very first time and he stays behind they leave for like two days they're traveling back from the city and and they didn't notice that he was missing there's a parental lesson for mary and joseph in there somewhere but it then they realize it and they run back to the city i just like to imagine this for a minute like this is mary as a mom she's like the rebellion has started i knew he wasn't the son of god and joseph turns to and goes you know stepsons jesus had a stepdad there might be some of you that are dealing with the effects of step families jesus had half brothers and they made fun of him and it's in the text i just wonder if maybe the lord wants to do some ministry to some hearts and minds jesus will touch you because he experienced things like mixed blended families if you will he knows what that feels like personally what's his response to joseph by the way and mary didn't you know i'd have to be about my father's business like that was my step-son there'd be no screen time for two weeks at least what about matthew 26 an armed multitude comes to arrest jesus as a common criminal peter pulls out his sword to try to fight and jesus says hey peter put your sword away don't you know that i could call down 12 legions of angels to free me from this experience but i have to drink the cup that my father set before me like jesus just submits himself to the authority of an armed multitude and he didn't do anything wrong what about john 19. i love the dialogue between pilate and jesus in john 18 and 19. talking about truth and authority and rulership pilate is an idol worshiping representative of a pagan government how many all are feeling some politics in your heart stir up right now jesus says to pilate you only have authority over me because it has been given to you from above how's that for speaking truth to power it's a whole different form this is who jesus is philippians 2 6-8 it says this about jesus who being in very nature god did not consider equality with god something to be used to his own advantage rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross equality with god a shared divinity with the father that jesus didn't use to his own advantage i mean we're having a lot of conversations these days about what we do with our privilege i love to look what jesus did with his privilege he laid that all down to become a servant to all even willing to die for it but you know what the story doesn't end there he didn't stay dead i was expecting a little bit of a baby come on now he didn't stay dead he came up out of the grave ascended to the right hand of the father where he lives to make intercession for us that's good news today you know there's one more thing that i want to talk about the story doesn't end only with him being resurrected and then ascending to heaven there's more to the story it's not over yet jesus will fulfill his destiny he the god of israel born in the form of a man will fulfill his destiny troy what wait a second jesus has a destiny i thought he just helped me fulfill my destiny no no he does help you fulfill his destiny but he has one himself what is jesus's destiny i'm so glad that you asked in that funny voice john 18 verse 37 this is part of the dialogue with pilate pilate's talking to him about the accusation that he's coming against rome which is the accusation that the high priest put against jesus against yeshua and and pilate therefore said to him jesus are you a kingman jesus answered you rightly say that i am a king for this cause i was born and for this cause i have come into the world that i should bear witness to the truth everyone who is of the truth hears my voice let's look at this text together for a minute why was he born to be a king where in this world just want to point that out we already saw from ezekiel and isaiah jesus the god of israel in the form of a man already had a heavenly kingdom but he's not coming for a heavenly kingdom he's coming for an earthly kingdom that's what he was born to do was to bear the weight of heaven's glory on an earth that's been redeemed from sin to what we might sing from time to time he wasn't born to die he was willing to die and him and the father had a conference before the creation of the world where he said daddy i'll give up my life for them and he said great then you can create it and then they created it and right away we fall but i just want you to know the cross was not plan b they decided that from before in the beginning oh that's why his genealogy matters so much jesus's genealogy matters so much because he's a double inheritor of the promises to david a kingdom in israel on the throne of david is jesus's birthright that's what he was born for can i introduce you to a hebrew phrase a hebrew idiom it'll be on the screen can you say it with me one more time the kingdom of heaven jesus walks all around in the gospels all four of them talking about the kingdom of heaven it's near it's at hand it's available to you the declaration of the kingdom of heaven is not only spiritual it is spiritual in part but the hebrew idiom of the kingdom of heaven is that the kingdom of heaven is the culmination of the vision of all the prophets of israel i don't know if you've caught what the prophets say one day there's going to be social ethnic economic governmental and ecological justice on the face of the earth literal on the earth there will be world peace under the direction of the morals of the god of israel how many of y'all get excited about that is just me i just want to say it's not an executive order or a political party that brings that kingdom to the earth it's ruled over by the son of david and it's brought about by the people of the god of israel the people of the god of israel includes those from israel and those from the nations who have attached their heart to the son of david that gave up his life took it up again and we'll come back one day to make sure that this earth is prepared for the father's presence now let's think about malcolm for a minute luke 24 the road to emmaus experience i love the humor in that by the way jesus is walking along the road with him for three hours you know hey what's going on guys how you doing oh what's going on you look kind of depressed their answer isn't about the fact that he died only their answer is we had hoped that he would redeem israel they weren't saying something only spiritual in that they were expecting him to bring malchemin to bear as the son of david on the earth throw off the pagan governmental system that was ruling over their land that was promised through the covenants of israel what about acts 1 acts one's a great one to go and read 40 day seminar with the resurrected jesus how many of you all would like to be a part of that seminar 40 day seminar where he's teaching them concerning himself and the kingdom of god from moses and the scriptures it says at the end of the 40-day seminar the disciples say so will you at this time restore the kingdom to israel and i know sometimes we read that like oh those gods they sure didn't miss it no they didn't they were asking for the natural consequence of if he was in fact the son of david he would be bringing justice to the earth his answer to them was hey you don't need to worry about the time when my father's got my father's got the timing you guys just go be my witnesses go tell the world about my love go tell the world who doesn't know our god and our people's story go tell them about our god and invite them in so that when malchu comes it won't be jews only it'll be every tribe and tongue isaiah 9 verse 6 the first two verses everybody knows because it's from christmas time for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given i just want to say a child has been born it's good news a son has been given to us hallelujah and amen but you know it continues this promise and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father prince of peace verse seven of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end upon the throne of david and over his kingdom to order it an establishment with justin with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the lord will perform this a son's being a child's been born a son has been given but i ask you a question has his government increased across the face of the earth from the throne of david yet is there permanent justice here amen there is not but there will be one day it's not just a promise for us in the sweet by-and-by of a heavenly experience in another realm that heavenly experience will descend from heaven and we'll reclaim the earth and kick the enemy off of it that's good for all of creation so if we don't start yelling about it the creation will start groaning philippians 2 continues that because jesus was willing to lay down his life the father took him and put him at the highest place in heaven where every knee is what the text says every knee in heaven every knee on the earth and every knee under the earth will bow down to jesus and declare that he is lord i just want to ask you a question has that happened yet i mean we know that the answer is no because some of our family members don't know him yet oh israel doesn't know who he is yet but they will one day first corinthians 15 tells us that jesus destiny is to spend a thousand years on the earth putting all things under his feet all power all dominion all authority will be under jesus's feet i just want to point out it takes him a thousand years to do that he's the son of god why do we think that four years anybody's gonna do anything the last enemy that he defeats is death death will be gone permanently from the earth that says this the father will be all and in all jesus's destiny is to prepare a broken world for the coming of the father himself you know when that happens it's going to be like the earth is created new the heavens are going to be new the city is going to be glorious it's going to be amazing this is the reason he was born and has come into the world as a man so now related to jesus jesus was born to be king of the jews and sit on the throne of his father david on the earth you know people don't know this but this is the cry of their own hearts they just don't know that this is the goal of the whole biblical record that we would see righteousness and justice flow like a river martin luther king had this dream in fact the text in high guy 2 tells us that this is the desire of all nations the nations just didn't know it i just want to ask you can we give ourselves to this dream peter says that we can hasten it we can we can we can prayerfully contribute to the quickening of it happening on the earth it's the pursuit of everything in our hopes and dreams in fact hebrews 11 tells us that this is what all the forefathers and heroes of the faith we're going we're pressing in for we're crying out for and you know what it says there it says that they desi they died not receiving the promise the end of the chapter says because they're not going to come into their fullness without us oh my gosh we get to get all of abraham's rewards with him at the same time that's going to be such a glorious day last summary statement the story of jesus is from cover to cover and is still being written through our lives paul says to the corinthians you are an epistle you are a letter of the messiah written by the spirit jesus said to the disciples go and be my witnesses go tell everybody the good news start in jerusalem then move to judea and samaria but eventually guys you got to get this to the end of the earth everybody needs to know many of us have already said yes to this but maybe there's a few of you that haven't i just want to i want to plead with you will you consider joining with jesus in the pursuit of peace and justice on the earth in the coming of his kingdom it is for our salvation it is for forgiveness of sin it's for our own emotional and psychological wholeness but there's something else behind the scenes jesus wants to come and fulfill the dream of the prophets we should give our energy and our passion and our activism to that government to that truth to that concept of justice not just as individuals but also as families you know a family that's given to the kingdom of heaven can change a neighborhood what about a community a community of faith given to a city can change the city that's us now i know i've said a lot of things that might be new to a few of you today i just want to encourage you don't take my word for it read this thing it's got really good stuff to say and it might be a little different than the way we've thought about it in the past ask jesus he loves to talk about these things get into the book it has so many wonderful things to show you are you willing to join me in a short prayer jesus thank you for who you are thank you for your willingness to become one of us and to lay down your life father thank you for working together with your son to design a plan for how to redeem creation before we even needed a redeemer father thank you for raising your son up again that we might be able to enter into eternal life jesus we ask that you would help us to see you in a deeper and more complete way jesus helps some to see you for the first time and holy spirit we ask that you would draw us close to this book that we would hunger and thirst for it and that our hunger and thirst would be insatiable there's a dream in your heart lord that's recorded from genesis to revelation that you've invited us to be a part of it lord would you help that dream come alive in a different way this day this week this hour this moment we ask that in the name of jesus amen and amen so i just want to invite you to a moment of reflection as the worship team plays a little bit maybe just ask ask the lord to show him a little bit to show you a little bit more of himself ask him to to to draw you close to this book it is a gift to us it is life and life abundantly [Music] may he be glorified in all that we do and say [Music] [Music] uh amazing [Music] ah [Music] was lost but now i'm found was blind but now i see and when we've been there ten thousand shining as [Music] the sun we've no last days to sing god's praise then when we'd first be gone it's amazing literally amazing when you think of the delicate intricacies that god went to and the length that he went to to weave the redemption story from cover to cover jesus is there i'm reminded of luke 24 that story he just read where they said our hearts burned within us when we heard jesus talk about the scriptures i don't know if you sensed your heart bernie but i know i did and my prayer for us is that we would be a people as a community that our heart would fall in love with every page of god's word so that we can seek to find jesus right there in the middle of it and second corinthians also tells us that we would be an epistle a letter that is written where our lives would be a picture where people can find jesus right in the middle and we have our altar ministry team ready to come forward but i know you can't talk about jesus that much and paint a picture that vividly of jesus without someone's heart being stirred towards him so i know today whether you're watching online or here in the room you may need to take a step towards him i don't know what that looks like for you but we have an opportunity with our prayer team here if if you sense that stirring in your heart that jesus is making himself real to you in a way that maybe he never has before and you just want to take a step towards him or you would just want to run towards him you can do that right now you don't have to leave you can do it right now and these people are here to pray with you or maybe you're just walking through something tough these are tough times and we have people that are here to pray with you about situations in your life or circumstances you might need someone to join with you in prayer so either way please don't leave without getting what you need god wants to do a work in your heart he is pursuing you pursuing you that was his plan before the beginning i'm going to pray a prayer of blessing over us as we dismiss but again if you need prayer don't hesitate to take a step forward today would you stand on your feet as we get ready to be dismissed can we just give a big round of applause to troy for that word i don't [Applause] like i love to communicate god's word but that was a clinic okay so just if you don't know it i'm just telling you like take listen to it again god was speaking through every word and it's so intentional so we're so grateful wherever you are troy but i'm going to pray a prayer of blessings lord i thank you that you're doing a deep and powerful and permanent work on the earth in our hearts through jesus through the grace and the mercy of your son and we say we want all of it we want everything that you have for us we want to be a part of jesus's destiny we want to be a part of bringing your kingdom on the earth so as we go out show us how we can do that open our eyes show us our neighbors show us our family show us our friends where can we get to work being a part of your destiny we love you jesus bless every person in the space empower them ignite them burn in their hearts in your name we pray amen well you're dismissed if you need prayer come forward but otherwise go get your cozies on and get ready for some football we'll see you next week

Channel: Gateway Church

Views: 250

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Preston, Morrison, gateway, church, gateway church, scottsdale, tempe, gateway church sermons, church online, arizona church, arizona churches, scottsdale churches, tempe churches, phoenix churches, gateway people, gateway life, Preston Morrison, Robert Morris, Pastor Robert Morris, Pastor Preston Morrison, Preston Morrison sermons, church sermons, Troy Wallace, Rabbi message, Jewish, Real Jesus, Rabbi sermon, Amazing grace

Id: 5d_CMCsgx5w

Length: 77min 34sec (4654 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021