The Return | Week Four | 8.29.21 | The Pursuit

welcome to church thanks so much for being here a lot of places you could be but not nearly any as interesting as this one so thank you for being that pursuit hey we just want to put it on your radar tonight is uh our church's annual pool party we're doing that at the snohomish aquatic center starting at 6 p.m and so that's just a few blocks here from the church so we want to invite you and your family out to that we think we think we want to invite you and your family out to that so we're not sure yet but anyways tonight at 6 p.m we're going to be rallying free food it's going to be great of course vision weekend is coming up next week so we want to make sure that that is on your radar and calendar pastors midi and windy perez from las vegas uh will be with us all weekend friday night saturday night and then all day sunday board it's going to be incredible and uh going to be a great time in the presence of god that that is going to be a free event but we are encouraging people to get here early make sure you get a seat and i would love to have you for that weekend appreciate your prayers i'll be in uh texas for the next few days uh be preaching our day star here uh over the next uh a few days and then appreciate engagement in houston i'll be back thursday but uh what i want to thank you for your prayers and uh your support hey i want to make a special announcement this morning as you know as the church has grown so has our staff and it's been important in this season that we onboard folks who can help us pastor and continue to reach the northwest over the last number of months i've been trying to hire one of my friends who i've known in the region for several years and i'm pleased to report today that he finally accepted our job offer so anyways we want to introduce to you this morning pastor jeshu ram and let you know he will be starting now jesse does just about everything uh he preaches he teaches he leads ministry schools he oversees missions work in india and and uh travels really around the world preaching to teach it and uh it has been uh a goal of ours to be able to onboard this type of talent here at the church and so jesse just want to give you a minute greet the people and just wanted to say thank you for joining the team whoa hello pursuit northwest come on yeah thank you russell thank you excited to be here uh i'm excited for what god is doing in this region and when god called us here god has called us to the region i believe this region where god is moving and shaking so that from here we go to the nations yeah yeah right there's a fire that's burning in all of us and we're called to spread that fire that every tongue tribe and nation will come to know the only jesus christ lord and savior so that can worship our king so excited to be here excited to be part of the team and so that we can see his kingdom come on earth amen honored to be here thank you for having us love to get to know you all and uh let's celebrate what god's doing thanks jesse come on one more time can we thank pastor jesse let me begin uh this morning by just addressing some different comments that i get uh the privilege of hearing made in my in my uh in my job i almost never check my email anymore just because all the comments let me just share with you four comments i've heard this week now not from anybody who goes here from all the other christians you know nobody who goes here everybody goes here as well matured and behaved and just perfect almost but these are comments i've heard other people make and i want to share with you what's in common about all 40 statements somebody told me this this week they said pastor if you ever wear a mask you're living in fear then somebody else told me if you don't wear a mask you're not being a good christian so i found out that this week i'm not a good christian they said this they told me this they said if you get the vaccine you don't trust jesus and you might not make heaven and somebody else told me if you don't get the vaccine you aren't loving your neighbor do you know what all these statements have in common they're false [Applause] let me help clarify something for you this morning when jesus says do not judge what he's actually saying is do not arbitrarily attach a value statement or motive to somebody else's decision especially in matters of personal choice these are not heaven or hell issues but if we allow the enemy to turn them into heaven or hell issues the only thing it will produce in the church is division and fear and i've said this to you all before but we got to figure out how to get along because we're going to be stuck with each other for a long time up there and whether you get a vax or not or whether you wear a mask or not you're not going up any earlier you don't get in line first you don't get a special seat at the banqueting table of the lamb if you wear two masks for the next six months these are matters of personal choice and personal conscience and so as a pastor one of my jobs is to help manage the narrative and manage the conversation here's what the enemy wants to do anybody wants to do two things in the church and i think he's largely succeeding i don't think in this church but i think if you look at the church broadly the enemy is largely succeeding in these two areas he's trying to get us to give into a spirit of fear and number two a spirit of division the last prayer prior to the garden of gethsemane that jesus prays is recorded in john 17. theologians refer to it as the high priestly prayer jesus spends about half that prayer praying that the disciples would stay united why do you think that that was one of the chief focuses of one of christ's last publicly recorded prayers because when we get left to our own devices we're really good at disunity not so great at unity and only a united church can help heal a divided nation and so you and i we actually have a spiritual and a supernatural responsibility scripture says to fight for unity and so i would just encourage you here in this environment you're going to sit next to people who vote differently than you who think differently than you who make different personal decisions than you and just let me just let me let me this morning give you permission to take a deep breath and not have to worry about micromanaging somebody else's outcome when you stand before god you're not going to give account for what your neighbor did you're not going to give account for what the politicians did you're not going to give account for all the facebook arguments that you won you're going to give account to whether or not you were faithful and true to the mission that god had for your life and so you know people want to ask me my opinion you know what i never want to talk about again for the literal rest of my life vaccines or masks ever i never i want to erase them from the dictionary i literally never want to talk about them again because it doesn't matter what you say you're wrong and then you find out that you're a terrible christian some of the worst shots that i've taken over the last 12 months haven't been from unbelievers but from believers and so just let me encourage you this morning let's not make heaven or hell issues about things that are not heaven or hell paul dealt with this with the issue of circumcision peter dealt with this in the issue of dietary restrictions the church fathers dealt with this on the issue of keeping the sabbath we are really great at shooting our own becoming divided and then blaming the enemy for self-induced harm and so we just got to stand against things that would cause disunity and one of the ways that we do that is we mature to the place where we can have conversations with people who disagree with us and then at the end of the day close your laptop and move on with your life and so that's what i would encourage you to do you know i think sometimes in the church what we want pastors or spiritual leaders to do or religion to do is we want it to micromanage our life like marionette puppets this is what we want we want pastor to outline my bible reading plan we want pastor to make sure my marriage is great we want the church to exist as the parental unit in our life that causes us to jump when we say jump to sit when we say sit to raise our hands when we say raise our hands this is what we're looking for and this is what religion provides here's the problem all of these strings that you're attached to eventually become bondage that wears you down and scripture says whom the son says free is free indeed where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty for those who are in captivity now watch the spirit of religion and the political spirit are oftentimes sister spirits and let me tell you why because they both exist to control your outcome and here in this environment we take the strings off we create an atmosphere for people to come alive in the presence of jesus and then we trust that with god's help you're making decisions that are going to best contribute to your development and maturity because at the end of the day you will stand and give account to god for the decisions you have made so we want to empower people to think right about the issues to think right about scripture to have a healthy hermeneutic to have a healthy worldview and then in doing so allow their upstream christological development to impact their downstream daily decision making but this is not an environment that's going to hook you up to a string and force you to develop instead this is an atmosphere it's a greenhouse that you're going to be invited into and when you make a decision to plant and develop roots it will best benefit your life and your family it is not the spirit of religion it is the spirit of liberty that best helps give you control holiness righteousness development for your life and so let's resist the urge to try to control other people's outcomes let's resist the onslaught from government to micromanage and control our outcomes and let's instead be people who are really okay if god is our god and we are his people and that's a full-time job just right there and so just let me encourage you in the days ahead there will be people who disagree see things differently say things differently i want to stand on the side of personal choice and conscience freedom liberty and in doing so create a long table for people who can sit down next to each other even when they disagree and still focus on the main thing the main thing is jesus not your private medical decisions and by the way you should make your medical decisions after consulting with a doctor not after consulting with social media and i'm getting a phd but not a useful one i'm not a medical doctor i have no opinion that counts on this outside of do you trust jesus have a relationship with a primary doctor and leave me the out of your facebook arguments [Applause] i know some of you see your first sunday a little offended but just you ain't seen nothing yet come back next week [Applause] i think jesus is returning soon because we need it i believe we're living in the last days i believe there is a coming judgment i believe both hell and heaven are real and eternal places i believe that we are in the midst of two dueling revivals a revival of righteousness and a revival of iniquity i believe no one's theology on the end times is perfect but we ought to teach best we can about this important reality and you can believe differently about the details as long as we agree on the outcome normal isn't coming back soon jesus is jesus is coming back for a victorious bride not a victim not a bystander not a girlfriend not a one-night stand but a covenantal bride who has oil in her lamp who is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the groom we've talked about revelation we've talked about tribulation we've talked about the rapture and the return of christ and today i want to tell you about heaven you can pray all day for his kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it's being done in heaven but if you don't know what heaven looks like you won't know when your prayer gets answered all of the book of revelation begins with one singular invitation that the apostle john receives and the apostle john receives that invitation when he's on the island of patmos all by himself and it's a simple statement a voice comes from heaven and that voice says this to john come up higher you know what my encouragement for you as a pastor is come up higher set your mind on things above not on things below dwell on things that are righteous things that are holy things that are of the kingdom do not get weighed down by the warfare of the world around you but instead have your eyes on the prize the author and the finisher of your faith king jesus come up higher see when you come up higher you get heaven's perspective on earth's problems see some of us we're trying to battle earthly problems with earthly solutions or even worse we're trying to tackle spiritual problems with earthly solutions and yet the apostle paul says this the weapons of your warfare are not carnal but they are mighty in battle for the pulling down of strongholds why because what you fight is not flesh and blood but principalities and powers so how can you be prepared to take principality and powers when you're using weapons of warfare that were meant for flesh and blood until you come up higher you can't have god's perspective on earth's problems see some of you have been telling god how big your problem is and that's the problem your problem isn't the problem your problem is your worship of the problem that you face and until you respond to the invitation to come up higher your problems will look a lot bigger than they are see the higher you go the smaller your problem becomes it's still a problem but it's just a lot smaller because what you magnify multiplies and when you magnify the lord you multiply his benefit his resource and his affect in your life but when you multiply the problem all you get is more problems and see the church in this hour has to respond to the invitation to come up higher see that's the word of the lord to this church come up higher no don't get bogged down in endless social media debates no don't get weighed down by the affairs of the world no don't get depressed with the spirit of fear no don't give in to the spirit of division how are you going to prevent that by coming up higher you can't set your mind on things above until you cast your gaze in the direction of the voice that invites you to come up higher that's what we do in worship we come up higher that's what we do in prophetic proclamation of the gospel we come up higher that's what we do through community is we come up higher no i can't afford to live life on earth's elevation when i've been invited to rule reign and be seated in heavenly places you're not seated in earthly places you're seated in heavenly places so i'm going to come up higher see with a lot of christians living on a lower plane of existence because they're living below the level of their invitation they've heard the voice but they haven't responded and how many of us are stuck fighting battles getting upset at god not having victory in our life and the reality is is we've missed out on the invitation to come up higher fred for you and i that's the invitation of the hour the entire book of revelation the unfolding of the apocalyptic prophetic literature that the apostle john writes is the net result of following this invitation come up higher today we're going to talk about heaven revelation 21 starting in verse 1. watch what the bible says now i saw this is john talking now i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea let me give you some breaking news this morning the death rate in this world is one hundred percent literally it's a hundred percent everybody dies unless the lord returns those who are in dead raised first and those who are alive are caught up in the air but until that happens the death rate is literally a hundred percent the apostle john says it later like this in first john the world is passing away along with its desires but those who do the will of the lord remain here's the general rule rule that i like to apply to my life if it's not going to matter in 10 years i don't waste 10 seconds but some of us get so distracted and so weighed down by some of the conflict some of the problems some of the unanswered questions some of the disappointments some of the wounds that we haven't dealt with some of the things in our life that haven't quite yet been developed we get so bogged down with things that are passing away and here's what jesus says to his disciples he says let the dead bury their own you follow me let me help explain that for our context what jesus is saying is let what is passing away the world and its desires let that manage itself let that worry about what tomorrow holds let all that debate and controversy and confusion let that just be confusion but you follow me and so so for us we've got our eyes on eternity not on temporal but instead on eternity watch the similarity between the way that john talks about the new earth and the way that paul talks about the new creation he says therefore if anyone is in christ he is a new creation old things have passed away behold all things have become new now all things are of god who has reconciled us unto himself through christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation friend the ministry of reconciliation presupposes that everything belonged to him in the first place which means we are not owners we are stewards because we aren't building our kingdom we are announcing his do you know what preaching is it is the prophetic proclamation that the kingdom of god has arrived and there is an invitation for anyone who wants to be involved i am not trying to convince you to help build the kingdom i'm not trying to get you to kind of make believe and force yourself to get emotional about the kingdom i'm simply announcing that the kingdom is here and there's nothing you can do about it and that's the greatest news that there's ever been because you're not powerful enough to screw this up the kingdom comes with an open invitation all who put their faith in christ jesus all who believe in the name of the lord will be saved you have the greatest invitation that there's ever been the kingdom is here and when you actually start to believe that the kingdom of god is at hand and it's all around it comes with the most exceptional exciting invitation that there has ever been that's why we can't be bought because our oil is not for sale because what we've experienced with god is not for sale and nothing can replace it and it don't matter if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul so for us as believers we've invested in a place where moth and rust cannot destroy i would just encourage you don't put your hope in the stock market don't put your hope in political outcomes certainly don't put your hope in the housing market because it's insane don't put your hope in things that are fleeting away it doesn't mean you can't be involved in those things but if those things are where your hope is anchored all you will do for the rest of your life is ride an emotional roller coaster and so for us what we recognize is no i've been invited into higher places i've been invited into a higher level of thinking i've been invited to keep my eyes on jesus and to be a part of the kingdom that he's building you know the reason why the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church because god's the one who's building it if you were building it if it was up to you the gates of hell would prevail all the time because the gates of hell prevail against us on the way to church but the reason why the church advances see that's why you're not the church alone you're the church together oh it's just me and god you know and church is anything no when church becomes anything church becomes nothing no church is when we're together when we're gathered when we're corporate when we're worshiping together in this place and as we do we become unstoppable as one hidden in christ jesus for the advancement of his kingdom purpose the reason the church can't be stopped is because god's the one who's building it in fact that's our competitive advantage in the world around us the gates of hell can't prevail against what god is establishing and what god is building the world is passing away and so are its lusts but those who do the will of the father remain forever that's how you establish foundational legacy in your life you do the will of the father watch what happens verse 2 and i john saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and again i heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and god himself will be with them and be their god hear me friend the goal of christian life is not ultimately for you to get to heaven but instead for heaven to get into you can you say a prayer at the end of your life and just get into heaven by the skin of your teeth probably but you've missed the point eternal life starts now one day there will be a holy city that comes down out of heaven and we will dwell with him forever but on this day you have become a temple of god by putting faith in christ jesus you're not just saying a nice little prayer so that one day you can avoid hell giving your life to jesus means you are going all in on a relentless pursuit of who he is you're not going to heaven so you can float around on a cloud like a fat little half-naked angel playing a harp while eating grapes no friend you're going to dwell in a city that needs no light because jesus is it's light you're going to go dwell in a city whose architect and builder is god you're going to go live in perfect harmony and peace with the creator of the universe who knows you by name and numbers the hairs on your head that's your reward for faithfully following him see we've allowed culture to paint our perspective of what heaven looks like and we watch that and we go man if that's all that i'm going for it kind of looks boring or without purpose or just so ethereal mystical and magical that it has no grounding or or rooting in in kind of real world events no there is a holy city that comes out of heaven that you're invited to dwell in and christ himself is its builder it's literally the best deal there's ever been now watch verse 4 this is important and god will wipe away every tear from their eyes there shall be no more death no sorrow nor crying there shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away let me mention two things here this is why your pain is important the reason why your pain is important is because it exists as an offering that you can give god now that you can't give him later why because you're going to a place with no more tears and no more pain and no more sorrow which means tears pain and sorrow are some of the best offering that you can give to god on this side of heaven get that on the replay because that's more significant than you're letting me know but just get it on the replay now watch there's a hermeneutical rule that must be followed when reading apocalyptic or prophetic literature and that's the rule of now and not yet do you know that every christian eventually gets healed the only question is is it now or is it not yet my job is to contend for the now and to trust god with the not yet because content and trust are weapons in the hands of a believer because i can't afford to live a life of not asking but at the same time i can't afford to live a life of not trusting with the future so i pray for six people all the time i see a lot of folks healed and i see a lot of folks not healed and the mystery of that result can either push me in the direction of contending and trusting or getting upset and deconstructing the choice is yours deconstruction doesn't happen without an undealt spiritual wound in your heart and when people don't know what to do with their pain instead of offering it to god as a sacrifice they build an altar to it and you become like the idols you worship that's why people with undealt wounds end up bleeding all over people who didn't hurt them that's why undealt wounds become some of the most toxic things in a community type setting because it spreads like cancer in the christian body and for you that's why it's so important when things don't work the way that you want them to work instead of getting upset at god you recognize his ways are not my ways his thoughts are high above and one day my redeemer will return and he in fact will stand on the earth and at the end of time he will make every wrong right and that's enough for me friend god doesn't owe you anything you need to hear that you need to hear that in the midst of a society that is absolutely uh diseased with western consumerism god doesn't owe you anything and yet for us we operate with a contending for the things of god in the now and a trusting of the things that happen in the not yet see you have a finite beginning and you have a finite end for you time is linear but time and space bow in the presence of god in reverence to jesus that's why you serve a god who was and is and is to come all at the same time that's why you serve a god who can heal your past empower your present and secure your future all at the same time that's the god that we serve and you know right now god is working on things that you don't even know are broken because that's how broken you are god is working on things you didn't even know need fixing and one day you'll reach heaven and he'll show you every part of your story that he redeemed even without you asking for it because that's how good he is but we ought to make a choice when i don't understand i'm going to trust jesus when it doesn't happen on my timeline i'm going to trust jesus when it doesn't feel fair i'm going to trust jesus when it's been done to me and it shouldn't have been i'm still going to trust jesus because he is the good father the father of light and in him there is no shadow of turning that's the god that we serve and so you ought to make a choice now even if life doesn't work out the way that i want it to i'm still going to trust jesus it's like the disciples say to jesus when he asked them will you leave as well they say where else are we going to go only you have the words of life where else are you going to go friend you're going to turn to universalism not you're going to turn to fatalism pessimism cynicism agnosticism nah only jesus has the words of life but what i've found is that we want to build a god in our image and what that means is we want to build a god that we can understand and frank can i tell you a god that you can fully understand is not a god powerful enough to command your worship no he exists outside the bounds of what you can understand [Music] well watch what scripture says verse 5 then he who sat on the throne said behold i make all things new and he said to me write for these words are true and faithful and he said to me it is done i am the alpha and the omega the beginning in the end i will give the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts and he who overcomes shall inherit all things watch and i will be his god and he shall be my son i love that phrase he who overcomes shall inherit that word overcome is the greek word nike it means to be continually victorious i need you to know today that when you put faith in christ jesus from that day forward you became continually victorious it doesn't mean all of your dreams come true it doesn't mean every one of your prayers get answered in the way that you want it to get answered it doesn't mean life is easy but what it does mean is that because i co-rule and co-reign with god in christ jesus seated in heavenly places victory is not dependent on exterior circumstance but instead on interior reality i have victory because jesus sits on the throne of my heart that means when i'm in the valley of the shadow of death i've got victory when i'm in the green pastures in the still waters i've got victory why because surely goodness and mercy follow me the days of my life friend you've got victory and you don't even realize this see that's why you got to get heaven's perspective on life's events some of you ready to give up on something but it but you don't have heaven's perspective some of you ready to give in to a pity party for the rest of your life but you don't have heaven's perspective some of you willing to give into that sickness that disease that poverty that spirit but you don't have heaven's perspective for a believer to be completely and continually victorious doesn't mean that every day is rainbows and unicorns but what it does mean is i've got an interior attitude and perspective that is reflective of what god knows to be true about my life i'm continually victorious now watch watch in revelation 2 and in verse 17 john says something similar he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit said to the church to him who overcomes that same word to him who nike i will give some of the hidden manna to eat watch and i will give him a white stone and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it now watch revelation is filled with all these analogies and literature and pictures and word pictures and stories sometimes it's hard because we're reading it in a 21st century lens what does it mean that to him who overcomes christ will give a white stone what does that even mean let me draw you back to the first century because it would have made sense for every reader in the roman empire when they read this verse there are two theories for what that white stone meant let me read them to you today the first is this in ancient greece at the end of a trial jury members would cast a white stone to signify an acquittal when you were declared to be innocent but here's the second theory from that day and it's my favorite the best theory regarding the meaning of the white stone probably has to do with the ancient roman custom of awarding white stones to the victors of athletic games the winner of a contest was awarded a white stone with his name inscribed on it watch and it served as his ticket to the special awards banquet that followed the games do you see how the imagery overlays on heaven's reality to him who overcomes will receive a white stone with a name inscribed on it and it will serve as your invitation to the banqueting table of the lamb let me give you a picture of what this heaven is like well it's a real place and you stay there for all of real eternity and you dwell in a real city with a real jesus with other real saints and for the rest of your and for the rest of eternity you gaze on the glory and the beauty and the brilliance of who he is let me end here verse 8 of revelation 21 john gives a warning let me give it to you but the cowardly unbelieving abominable murderer sexually immoral sorcerers which was pharmakia in the greece idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death i don't know about you but when i read scripture i gravitate towards like the nice stuff and the good stuff and the encouraging stuff for i know the plan and purposes i have for you says the lord i can do all things through christ who strengthens me revelation 21 8 but the cowardly abominable sexually immoral will be in the place of fire and brimstone the second death that's not very encouraging but i want you to see something this morning there is a difference between what you struggle with and what you identify as and what john is saying is not if you've ever been a coward you can't go to heaven if you've ever been sexually immoral you can't go to heaven if you've ever been an adulterer you can't go to heaven no what he's saying is even though you might struggle with that it doesn't become damnable until it becomes the identity that you carry now watch how paul gives language to this in the letter he writes to the church in corinth or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of god do not be deceived nor the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanders nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god and here is my favorite verse in all first corinthians and that is what some of you were but you were washed you were sanctified you were justified in the name of the lord jesus christ and by the spirit of our god some of you when i was reading that list it just sounded like last week's activities i've got good news some of you formerly were but you've been washed come on can we make a commitment this morning that what i struggle with doesn't get to identify me what i struggle with is not what gets written on my white stone of invitation for christ himself has wiped out the handwriting of requirements against your life and you may have been hurt but you don't get to be a victim you may you may have made a slip up but it doesn't get to identify you as sexually immoral friend today you get to come out of occasional sin and into righteous identity so that you can be everything that god says you are what i struggle with doesn't get to identify me because it's not what i celebrate it's what i confess that's the difference that's the message that our culture can't seem to get that's the thing that seems so politically incorrect in the world around us now i can admit to a struggle but it doesn't get to claim the identity of my life and friend for you and i to those who overcome he's been given he's given us the inheritance of life come on would you stay with me as we close i want to pray for you and encourage you on your way out god's doing some incredible things in our region and i want you to know that you know that you know today god is for me not against me and seated with him in heavenly places i have a secure inheritance for the rest of my life let me pray for you

Channel: The Pursuit NW

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Length: 36min 50sec (2210 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 30 2021