Revelation: Centering Worship - Week 3 - Sermons - Matt Chandler

hi guys pastor matt chandler here pray uh that this sermon this resource uh be used by god in conjunction with you belonging to a local church to grow you and sanctify you in your faith if these resources bless you would you consider giving back to us here at tbc you can do that either through the app or you can go online to tbc resources and give there again pray that this blesses you and grows you in your love for jesus christ there is a battle coming the war has already begun it is raged unseen for millennia and though we often struggle to see the conflict for what it really is all of us can feel its effects we wrestle with the powers of sin and death on a daily basis and sometimes in our darkest moments it can feel like we're losing but the word of the lord tells a different story hope echoes throughout the pages of scripture despite the mystery that surrounds it the book of revelation offers the people of god a clear message fear not tomorrow tomorrow is one well good morning my name is rachel joy and my husband and i and as well as our family have been at the village church for about 13 years and i serve as the deacon for leadership development i would like to read to you all this morning revelation 5 1-5 then i saw in the right hand of him who is seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back sealed with seven seals and i saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and i began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it and one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals this is the word of the lord thanks be to god thanks rachel well if you've been wondering what seal trumpet or bull we just lived through um no no that wasn't dang it i even had friends that said don't that that joke's not gonna work and i was like no it is gonna work and then i'm gonna adjust my glasses so you know that i was right but now i'm not gonna adjust my glasses because that fell flat um about a year after or really a year before my conversion uh the the young man that was um trying to introduce me to jesus brought me uh to a wednesday night youth gathering called jam which stood for jesus and me um no no that it was super creative in the 90s and uh showed up at jam at the family life center of first baptist church of texas city texas and walked in and they i mean there was a lot of kids there and uh they started the night with a song called i've got joy uh maybe you know it i've got joy down in my heart deep deep down in my heart and then the guy that was leading worship to tracks um yelled out spell it and the entire room went j-o-y down in my heart deep deep down in my heart and it was easy to mock at the time right certainly it was something that i hadn't experienced like the closest i had come to anything like that would have been the skating rink when ymca came on uh and so it really now you know that you might have not known deep deep down in my heart but you knew that one you knew about that skating rink and um and then after that they they came up and they played a dumb game and then jerry hendricks little did i know uh at that time that a year and a half from that moment i would that was going to be probably the biggest greatest mentor uh in my life for the next four or five years after that uh at the time he's just kind of awkward student minister right and so he got up and he did an announcement and then uh they shifted you know it's kind of up and goofy and and then all sudden they kind of shifted um and and their singing it it got a little different um and it didn't take long i mean i remember keep in mind this is um i'm probably 17 at this point 16 17. um so they're singing our god is an awesome god for those you old heads in here and uh they're singing those kinds of songs and before i know it these people that i quasi know jeff i actually knew really well their eyes are closed and their hands are raised and it's like they're not in the room with me anymore and i i never felt so like an outsider as those moments and and those moments where they they would just sing and they would close their eyes and they would lift their hands like at camp that later that year it just got monumentally weirder uh like now on top of the singing with their eyes closed and their hands raised someone would actually get down on their knees someone would start to cry everybody was going up front i didn't like is is like god up front is that like you have to avoid that section if i don't want to get caught up in this and there was this place that they would go that i couldn't get to and and i remember thinking vividly mainly about jeff because it would be just like 20 minutes before that we'd be talking about football or we'd be talking about a girl and then all of a sudden i'm left there with the football and the girl and and he's in some other place now uh i i started to want to go with them like when that shift occurred and we stopped like hitting each other with socks full of flower or whatever youth ministry fun game we just played that borders on uh illegality um like they would they would shift and and i'd want to go but i couldn't get there and uh i would try to mimic or maybe close my eyes i i wanted to go and i couldn't go about a year later um by the grace of god the spirit opened up my eyes to the beauty of jesus and i became a christian and it was when i became a christian that i could finally go on this little journey with him i could leave where we were there in the dingy family life center and i could go with them and i learned then this it's much more than seen and it's certainly much more than expression it's like they got they got to go to what was ultimately most real the realest of reals and and finally i got to go with them now uh we're going to look into window one this week all right hopefully you've read uh revelation 4 and 5 just so you know one of the reasons we created the micro site and we gave you that little thing is is i don't want to take um 15 minutes of a 30 45 minute sermon and just read to or next week four chapters to you so what we wanted to do is put this in your end so i hope that you have spent at least some time this week reading revelation 4 and 5. so i'm going to pull from it and join in remember we're doing a survey join in the story with it but but hopefully you've already read the passages if you haven't it's okay you can read them after but i'm going to reference the passage like you have read it a couple of times and are familiar with it but this is our first kind of peek in on remember we're calling them windows this is our first time to peek in on the kind of uh kind of apocalyptic image driven reality that that jesus wants us to dial into for the good of our own souls two two things to remember uh as we move in to this and the weeks that follow this because we now have left the letter portion in that everything moving forward now is going to be apocalyptic it's going to be weird animal things and catastrophic natural events and a lot of death and a lot of it's important to know two things uh aleister begg says it this way i love this quote the plain things are the main things and the main things are the plain things so look at that just keep that in view and here's the other thing i need you to keep in view john's primary concern his primary concern this is what deconstructs how most of us have approached revelation john's primary concerns are not the how and the wind look at me john's primary concerns are not the how and the when but the who and the why all right so john's concern isn't what our concerns is how's that going to happen when's that going to happen john's primary concern is this is who it's about and this is why he's doing what he's doing all right so we've got to keep that in our minds as we dive into these windows remember they're not linear you're going to feel that next week these are not linear these are just windows that are being opened up so our question is not what happens next but what did john see next it's important that this is what he saw first the image that john sees to start out this journey is one of a throne but not just any throne it's a throne where all attention and all affection in the universe are moving towards this particular throne there are other thrones there but there's this one throne and all attention and affection in the universe are heading towards this throne there are 24 other thrones around this throne there are 12 thrones that represent the 12 tribes of israel there are 12 thrones that represent the 12 apostles what's being shown to us what is the main plane thing in this moment the main plane thing is that the 12 tribes of israel and the 12 apostles of the new testament make up god's activity among men when i say to you that our god is an initiating god that god moves towards his people that god does not turn his back on his people but he seeks to rescue them he pursues them he grabs hold of them that's what we're seeing in these 24 thrones the completion the entirety of god's work among humankind is seen in this throne room now that's not all that's here it's not just these thrones these weird kind of crazy freaky little creatures that are flying around right again i don't know if you read it but if you just you're out hunting or something you came across a line lion ox human eagle maybe you take the lord texans you're taking the shot uh but but man think about how terrifying that creed like if you were to draw that well how would you draw it like what is it is it the base of a lion is it like what is this and so again plain thing main thing main thing plain thing i i believe earnestly what's happening in this passage is is not the lion the noblest of all the created beings is not the ox the strongest is not the human the wisest and is not the eagle the swiftest see here's what's crazy to think about in in this throne room we're not the only ones worshiping there this passage says no no all of creation all attention all glory all affection honing in on this throne all the activity of god among humankind all the natural order the old testament would talk about trees clapping and mountains shouting and paul would say in romans 8 the creation groans as it longs to be made right this throne is the epicenter of ultimate reality it is the realist of reals we also see here not just that god is creator but we also see that god is redeemer we see that this is uh the lion of judah from the root of david we see that no one is able to open the scroll except the lion lamb we also see that the heavenly host fall down to worship at this throne that means beings that if we were to see them we would be tempted to worship them or flee in terror actually are the ones terrified before this throne and they bow down and they worship and they sing before this throne it's important to note here i'm going to say this quite a bit in this sermon this is not meek mild six pound eight ounce baby jesus this is not white jesus with feathered blonde hair it's not like like an instagram influencer right so like a ring light and this is this is bloodied conquering king jesus on his throne that's what you're seeing here there's nothing cute about this there's nothing oh and that's sweet that's not what is happening at this throne but but one of the things that is happening here and i and i love this is that all things are being seen rightly around this throne so i love this quote by peterson here's what peterson says of this moment that all creation has kind of come before this throne and it's seen in its hidden beauty which means uh it becomes visible what you and i are unable to see in the natural in worship every sign of life and every impulse to holiness every bit of beauty and every spark of vitality hebrew patriarchs christian apostles wild animals domesticated livestock human beings soaring birds are arranged around this throne center that pulses light showing each at its best picking up all the colors of the spectrum in order to show off the glories that around this throne everything is seen as it rightly is you creation around this throne is seen rightly as it is beautiful and glorious now this picture empowers christian joy and peace this picture empowers joy because if this is true if god is on this throne then what can happen to me like saying what are you gonna do to me if that's the throne and i understand ultimate reality and i've been brought into that by the lamb who broke open this scroll what do you do kill me come on to die's game we're gonna do leave me alone no great i'm gonna try to convert everyone like what do you do if this is actually the throne if this is ultimate reality and here's what's so fascinating about this passage john is not telling the seven churches nor is he telling us today that this is a future reality but a present one so you and i aren't waiting to die to go here this is not harps and wings sitting on a cloud this is ultimate reality that you and i have been invited to right now that this throne room right now these creatures right now creation right now is in affection and attention pointed in this direction and if you're looking around you're going i don't see it you don't have to see it for it to be ultimate reality thank you tony you don't have to see it for it to be ultimate reality see it's in this place that we are seen for what we really are like even the secular world knows there's something weird going on anybody see stranger things yeah i know there's like yeah okay so there's an upside down world right well what's happening in stranger things or if you're a little bit older the matrix a little bit older than that i don't got you i don't know flubber does that work i don't remember so so what happens in both the matrix and in stranger things maybe even some in harry potter for for you gen xers right or gen zers or millennials whoever had potter all right so so in this space what happened there's this invisible world that you cannot see but it's happening at the same time as the world that we can see what john is saying right here to the church to start us off on what is going on in the midst of ultimate reality is that god is on his throne the lamb has broken open the scroll and that you and i now have been invited in to this moment of worship where christ is exalted and reigns and rules and that's what's happening in this passage you and i have been invited into that this morning like you and i have been participating in that right now like when we were just singing and we're sitting under the word of god we're it's called convergent space it's where heaven and earth kind of overlap for a second and create this middle space where heaven and earth they just kiss for a second they just cross for a second you've been by we have the church we've been invited into that like we're singing king of my art i almost walked i was like come on church king i'm not right and i keep telling us why we're getting the trash kicked out of you that's why we're not victorious that's why so many of us are addicted that's why so many of us don't have any affection for jesus we don't understand convergent space like this is happening now and the christian has been invited in non-christian you're being invited in today right now right now i have had dinner with the same five or six families every new year's eve for 13 years we weren't able to do it this new year's eve so we just actually were able to do it a couple of weeks ago and and i talk about this to you guys but it's like the best we can afford the best meat the best drink the best sides the best and we purposefully feast we laugh we tell stories we rejoice at what god has been up to we lay out hopes of what he will do and then this year we transitioned it was a bleaker's house this year we transitioned to the living room and bleaker picked up his guitar and began to play and holloman began to pray for us and we began to sing with one another and as the spirit prompted pray over one another and then patterson who had just found the book um every moment holy if you don't have that i commend it to you it's prayers of liturgy for everything in your life there's a prayer that you can pray over making your morning coffee and you're like don't need it already do that uh but but it's this beautiful book and he began to read some out of that and i'm telling you for just a bit there we were in convergent space like we heaven and earth were they were touching they they were like everything about that night from the richness of the food to the the beauty of the drink like it was all rolling past itself to its intended recipient the worship of a god who would give such things to fallen man this is convergent space it's what's happening here now the reason why so many of us miss on this ultimate reality and i'm going to argue the peace and stability it brings because i want to keep saying it if that's ultimate reality i'm going to be just fine christian you're going to be just fine why because this is ultimate reality now the reason why so few of us get this peace and stability is because we have a tendency look right at me this i love you we have a tendency to set up our own little baby throne and try to rule and reign over our own lives setting up our little tiny pathetic kingdom against this one all right so wherever you look right at me wherever you decide i don't we talked something about this last week i don't have to obey this i don't have to walk in this i'm going to decide about sexuality i don't care what god says i'm going to decide how to spend my money i don't care what god says i'm going to live my life like i'm you have set up this pathetic little baby throne and you've sat on it you're trying to reign and rule and i love you but you are terrible at being god and in life of this vibrant throne where all attention and affection and power and authority are traveling towards in this very moment for you to set up like a little tyke baby throne and pretend that you're gonna reign and rule is rebellion against god and it explains why you're angry why you're addicted why you're frustrated why you're lonely why you're why because you can't be god gosh on top of that everyone who's been sucked into your little kingdom is miserable anxious nervous knows at any moment it could fall to pieces why brother says you lack the power like all power is his that's why his throne is sure you don't lack i mean gosh did the last week teach you anything about how powerless literally you were why do we do this over and over again just set up our own little baby throne in competition with this one it makes us so miserable we're just blind to it so i love this like let me ask this surely by now i'm just looking around there surely by now you're starting to get that you can't solve a lot of stuff about yourself like those deeper longings so i don't maybe you have a checklist maybe the checklist is just in your head aren't you getting to the age where a lot of those boxes are starting to get ticked and yet nothing's really better right you type airs you type that thing up as a junior in high school right everybody else was playing sports and having fun you did a spreadsheet about how your life was going to go like okay you graduated maybe maybe you got your house have you found the spouse maybe you got the kid maybe yeah gosh i don't know what your list would have these are kind of common things you'd have this we could have that so let me ask how's that how's that going for you king stan and solve it longing's still there right like that there's something more than this is still there isn't it yeah you know what because you you can't rule and reign over your life you don't have the capacity the strength the wisdom the presence the power and and this means that everybody else around you you're either manipulating or they're manipulating you i love this quote by clowning here's what he says without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives we move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are listen to this in turn alarmed by spectras and soothed by placebos dead gum that's good now he here's what he just said if you don't live a life of worship and that throne not your little baby throne like the throne we're looking at then what happens to you is you begin to swing back and forth between according to clowney spectres alarmed by spectres tell me that ain't the last three years alarmed nervous anxious and so what do you do you go soothe yourself with placebos let me let me talk straight a good glass of wine a good glass of bourbon and scotch is a good gift of god's grace to be enjoyed responsibly drinking a bottle of wine a day to get you through life and to soothe your anxiety is rebellion against the god of the universe let me soothe my frenetic anxiety about the world hey you know what poorness porn is a placebo of soothing that's what's going on in these things we run see how quiet it is in here because nobody wants to tell you this but this is what's going to save your life what is an emotional fare all about it's a placebo what's an actual affair it's a placebo what's um drunkenness and about it's a placebo right i'm freaked out about how the world's going my little reigning rules going to crap so let me soothe it for a little bit and it never brings about the peace and stability that the one true throne of reality brings and gosh this is a hot mess right now like if you just scroll social media right now how much of it is kind of the jokey you know opening the bottle at 9 00 a.m kind of thing like it's a joke but it's true we are numbing ourselves as this season of life has exposed we're little pathetic kings and queens i think you can feel it i don't think i'm saying anything you don't know i just think by and large we're not supposed to talk like this when the bible tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god that the wages of sin is death this is what it's talking about this kind of rebellion setting yourself up against the one true ruler and king of the universe so maybe since we don't do a lot of king queen stuff in america maybe this one will land better i'm gonna use marriage as an example so if you're single i'm sorry this is this works i think it works well let's say i leave here get in my truck and i go home and i and when i walk in my house there's just some dude there his name's stan if your name stan i just made that up i don't know you and i walk in i'm like hey man who are you it's like my name's stan why are you in my house well you know i just think that i could be a better husband to lauren and a better father to audrey reed and nora so i'm here for that there there will be a helicopter landing in my front yard to take that body somewhere or maybe a swat team to try to dig me out the house you ain't showing up in my house saying i can be a better husband to your wife i could be a better father to your kids even if that's true it ain't been given to you or what listen ladies all right ladies you you get home there's some shelly there i'm sorry if your name's shelly i probably just pulling i'm just pulling names out of the air do i know you she's like at your vanity no she didn't she might even have like your favorite stuff right you know you like do i know you no my name's shelley shelly why are you here well man i just just see how you parent your girls say how you parent your kids i've watched you not appreciate your man and so i'm i'm i'm the new i'm the new wife i'm the new mama come on is that going to get violent who in here is like oh okay and just leaving the house anybody don't raise your hand right now don't do it brother sister even if you're like a 100 harmonizer pacifist do not confess right now that you just walk out your house no would there not be blood on the floor would there not be a significant amount of violence yes and when you and i say i'm smarter than you god i know how to do this better than you i have no intention of surrendering you we are in essence setting up our little baby thrones against his actual throne and they were frustrated when our rule and reign brings us nothing but heartache and brokenness this is what the bible calls sin and it separates you from god and it'll keep you out of joy and stability the entirety of your life now there is some good news here if you're weary let me quote peterson again if you are weary of your life lurching from one partial satisfaction to another interrupted by ditches of disappointment isn't that a great quote if you are weary of your life lurching from one partial satisfaction to another interrupted by ditches of disappointment i'm here to tell you you don't have to do that anymore the this is the good news and for the record i know we're streaming i know this is going to live forever shelley rakesdraw just texted me and said really on my ipad sorry shelly you probably shouldn't even said your full name too late let's get back in here all right open your bible back up open your bible back up but you won't text me now open up your bible to revelation 5. we're going to pick it back up in verse 2. and i saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals and no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it and i began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it now listen this is what i'm talking about we just feel stuck why are we the way that we are why does this keep happening why do i keep giving in to this compulsion i i thought that being married would fix this i thought that having money would make this better i thought that right we can't open the scroll we can't get it open no one in heaven on earth or under the earth was able to open so john weeps loudly because he was stuck and there was no hope and there was no way out and for every way people tried to get out it just got messier it just got more broken they just realized they couldn't control their inner compulsions this is utter helplessness in light of the brokenness of the world verse 5 one of the elders said to me weep no more behold the lion of the tribe of judah the root of david has conquered so that he can open the scroll in its seven seals the reason that we are a people of peace and stability is because christ has opened the scroll he has done what you and i cannot do he has done what all the money in the world would not be able to do he has done what all the sects in the world would be unable to do he has done with all the success would be unable to do he has done with all that you name it will be unable to do he has unlocked the story of history the meaning of life the salvation of all things unto the finished work of jesus christ it's been unlocked for us now so so here's here's remember i said there was good news you you actually you just actually and we'll talk a little bit about this next week one of the things that was written on that scroll is your invitation into the convergent space how crazy is that right this convergent space that we're talking about like that scroll gets opened you've got the whole story of salvation and history that's next weekend's term um and and then man you you oh my gosh is that my name it is your name and where do you man you get invited in well man what about this and this did not tell you there's an ultimate reality that comes clean before the throne of god that you can't see right now my guess is you can't even see it about yourself right any act of of self-disparaging hatred that flies in the face of god's glad loving gracious joyful acceptance of you is out of step with reality no the lamb opening the scroll means you're welcome in so so how does it work so if we would like to we open it up oh my gosh is that my name yes it's your name what do you have to do okay look at me because it sounds too simple here we go you ready look at me all eyes we good believe it just believe it and and repent so so you you believe it you you get off here you you know those little like kid slides that you put together there's plastic and that's what your little baby sad pathetic thrones like you just kind of get off that thing and and then you you push it you destroy it burn it whatever you want to do you just lay your face before the kingdom glows i repent i want you to reign and rule over my life i'm such a i don't want to be that anymore i want to be marked by your love and grace i want to know you deeply i confess my sins to you i want you and that throne to shape my life to call me up into what you have for me and i want to live in light of ultimate reality versus my foolishness and once that's done the natural progression is all of a sudden there's adoration in your heart and here's what i want to encourage you to stir up all the days of your christian life adoration stir up in your heart a love for the beauty of jesus a gladness and the kindness of jesus and this is why i keep pointing you here over and over and over and over again this is just full of the beauty and mind and kindness and glories of the god on this throne cultivate adoration and then and then i think you need to cultivate confession we're going to find out later that things like proclaiming singing physical posture those are actually weapons of warfare isn't that crazy like when god's people sing like sing sing like that we're kind of making some war in there like the upper room was onto something when they they wrote this is how i fight my battles i can already feel the emails i'm gonna get on that now from there from there our lives actually become the these little places of convergent space now here's where we've got to do some work here because if you hear me talking about worship and you think i'm talking about singing we just missed each other to be in this convergent space is not just to those who are most expressive in worship right because you can look across and be somebody eyes closed hands up rocking back and forth they might not be in convergent space at all they might know nothing of the beauty and marvel they might just be mimicking like i was trying to do back in the day when i was like how do i get in okay close my eyes you know like trying to get through if you if you know cs lewis the the line the witch in the wardrobe like trying to get through the wardrobe and running into the back like it's that moment like okay if i mimic them can i get in no that's not how you get into convergent space you get in through belief and repentance and adoration and confession so i i don't want you to think when i'm talking about worship talking about singing although if you read the scriptures there is a lot of singing in worship but but here would be one of my favorite definitions of worship worship is an act of attention to the living god who rules speaks and reveals creates and redeems orders and blesses so here's here's what worship is and living a life marked by convergent space my attention worship is an act of attention so here's my attention is on this throne room that's where my attention is brothers sisters i've been trying to tell you you want a good marriage you get your eyes off your spouse and onto this throne you want to be good parents stop looking at other instagram feeds and buying organic goldfish get your eyes on this throne you want to be a good worker get your eyes on this throne you want to spend your money in a way that's wise get your eyes on this throne you want to be a good friend get your eyes on this throne this throne shapes reality because it is reality everything else is a shadow so we order our attention around gazing upon this throne we order our attention that's what worship is worship is attention not just singing this is what i think you're seeing in psalm 139 where it says you have been uniquely wired and uniquely placed this is what i think is happening in acts 17 when it says your boundaries of your app so let me maybe i can help like this gosh if you have 100 million dollars give it to us so i can build a bigger auditorium so i don't let well oh no this is the 10 30. let's go i'm i'm editing on the flat if you are so so this throne as we gaze upon it here's what i think the biggest gift is in regards to the presence and power of god in our lives you will start to see yourself as you actually are so so maybe i could help like this you are not an accountant or a housewife or a businesswoman or a welder or whatever the plethora of you brothers do where you just set up at the coffee shop and make seven figures a year i don't know what you guys are doing i'm just like are there not offices and i know you're like whatever bro it's like the village church west over here and like your whole staff's here but not today all right get off me like you are you are a child of god uniquely and uniquely wired and placed for this to to be this space this convergent space where heaven and earth collide that's what you're doing as you go that's why you're in that neighborhood that's why you work out where you work out moms that's why you're in that neighborhood please don't look at shaping and discipling your children and being the queen there on the block for the convergent space where heaven kisses earth as something that's small and not meaningful come on sis brother i love you there there is a reason that you are where you are and you waste it if your attention isn't on this throne now we have to i'm going to close this out we have to reckon with jesus here the passage demands it we have to reckon jesus i've already said it i'm going to say it again this isn't sweet baby jesus on a harp or with a harp on a cloud this is king jesus exalted sovereign overall all things put under his feet given into his hand did you see that when we read the revelation 5 it says to the one who had conquered wait what like remember when this was written if you were here week one gosh these people are being murdered with no recompense they're having their stuff stolen they're being burned alive they're being fed to animals and jesus is going i know that's what you see but what's happened is i've conquered and is that not how this is played out that you'll see here in a few weeks even those devoured by lions and set aflame are right under the throne of jesus right now going how long i love that passage how long till you avenge us a little longer a little longer there's a reckoning with the person and work of jesus like let me let me show you this this is how um chapter five ends this verse 14. and the four living creatures remember what the four living creatures symbolized all of creation and the four living creatures said amen and the elders fell down and worshiped this isn't good old boy bible belt theology this is a reckoning with the only throne that's legitimate the only reign that is righteous the only hope that man has in the scope of the universe is this throne that right now is surrounded by the elders and the thrones and the creatures and they have said they have bowed before him and said so be it you can't say so be it if you're on your little baby throne no you're still in glad rebellion you've set up shop in another man's rule and reign look at me i love you there'll be nothing but heartbreak there look at me i'm trying to love you i if you knew the earnestness by which i'm trying to plead with you there is nothing but heartbreak for you there there's nothing but disappointment and placebos and a life filled with swinging back and forth between freaking out and trying to numb it and then freaking out and then trying to numb it and you will just jump through whatever your compulsion is maybe it's drugs and alcohol maybe it's emotionally connecting with someone that's inappropriate to connect with maybe it's pornography maybe i don't know what the compulsion is and you i know there's some consistent ones among men and women you will be marked with a life of lustfulness and anger you'll be marked with disappointment and frustration and i'm trying to plead with you to see the actual throne this is the reckoning no one ultimately has a choice of whether or not they're going to bring glory to god right now you just have an invitation to glorify him by accepting the invitation to come into this convergent space to come and bow before his throne his yoke is easy and his burden is light and the elders and the creatures bowed their heads and they said amen so be it there's only one amen to be laid down friends i'm i'm doing the best i can with how god gifted me just kind of lay it before you plead with you i'll trust the lord and time will do what he does why don't you do me everyone just bow your heads and close your eyes i want to ask you just quick question you don't have to um worry about what's happening around you just why don't you look to me or look just close your eyes and then i just want to ask a couple questions if you would say right now just between you me and the lord and i don't matter right if you were to say if i'm honest pastor even at home if you're at home i'm glad you would if you would say gosh it has become evident to me that i have set up a little baby throne and i am trying to rule and reign over my life i'm trying to be the boss of my life i'm trying to do things that i think i should do when i should do them i'm not surrendering to any other throne my amen is in my pocket because i think at this point i am been trying to be sufficient enough and and if that's you today and you'll be like man i'm just set up my own little throne room and i'd i'd like to maybe get off that throne if that's you would you just raise your hand right now no shame in that or you'll just get that hand a little bit higher than maybe you'd normally i know we're baptist but we can do this like you can do it look at you proud of you okay all over the room maybe even at home right now just i've made my own throne man and i'm freaking tired all right praise god won't you put your hands down just put your hands down now look up at me real quick let's go ahead everybody look up at me so you just raised your hand there were a lot of you hundreds of you and and i don't know what just happened at home and said man i've built so one of two things that's happening the first is that you are a christian you you have surrendered your life to jesus and man there's just been some things that have happened like you don't drift towards godliness you know that right like if you let go you just get swept downstream you you don't move towards godliness and so man some things happened i don't i don't know what's happened in your life i mean you've just found yourself adrift the imitation it's just such a beautiful invitation is to confess and repent don't ever hear repentance as a dirty word christian repentance means that god's not done with you yet have you ever thought about it that way like repentance is i'm not done with you get back here repentance is you can't outrun me you better get yourself back here but but maybe that's not why you raised your hand maybe you have never in your life keep keep looking you have never in your life thought about these things at this level and you have never really in your i mean truly said i'm saying yes to you jesus forgive me of my sins i don't want to be king of my life i want you to be king of my life i'm not even sure what all that means but i will repent of that help me and what i want to do is if that's the case then that's what it looks like to actually become a christian and to grab hold of that invitation that god has given to you that's opened up in this scroll to step into convergent space so here's what i want to do i want to give you a couple of moments here we've gone long i'm sorry i want to give you a couple of moments here what does it look like for you christian that raised your hand to go these are the areas i know i am not and be specific about your repentance feeling bad and doing nothing with it is not repentance nor is it conviction it's almost demonic god ain't trying to laugh a shame on you ain't got no shame to give you but conviction goodness sakes conviction sweet so i want to give you time to be specific i repent of trying to reign and rule over this part of my life over this section of my life and then if you're here and you've never please don't do that thing where you think back to when you were a third grader and your parents were like do you want to come to heaven with us or burn in hell forever i'm asking you was there this moment where in all like with everything you knew at the moment you said i want you to be king of my life i'm stepping off this throne here's what i would encourage you to do in this moment that i'm giving us this quiet moment i want you to just pray and ask jesus to forgive you of your sins he's going to i want you to ask jesus to come and reign and rule in your life and he will and then when all said and done today and we dismiss we're going to be men and women up front i want you to come and let us know that you did that listen you know that the bible says that there's more celebrating in heaven more partying in heaven more kind of let's get crazy partying in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who need no repenting and so at the end today i would love for you to just come and go man i i said that prayer that the pastor told me to pray and then we're just going to come alongside of you and encourage you in that and love you in that celebrate like crazy with you look i'm gonna end with this sentence there is a king a ruler that will be far kinder to you than you are to yourself let's pray father thank you for these brothers and sisters help us goodness lord help us i pray spirit of the living god that you would help us who know you get off this little throne again i thank you for your steadfast love i pray that our repentance would be sincere that you would restore our awareness of this space that you've invited us into i pray for the return of adoration i pray for the return of confession of singing of proclamation of gladness in you and then i pray for those who've come in here and they they just have never really done it maybe they thought they have before maybe they there was some thing back in their childhood or maybe they've just misconstrued being good people as being christians just ask that you'd give them life today and it's for your beautiful name i pray amen

Channel: The Village Church Resources

Views: 49,829

Rating: 4.8626609 out of 5

Keywords: Matt Chandler, The Village Church

Id: XZLj491YTr0

Length: 50min 28sec (3028 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021