Empowered by God
Summary
Transcript
· Hi, I'm Donna Waldansski. So, when I think of Cross Church, I think of family. I think of community. I think of how we can encourage each other and build each other up. Pastor Jackie made a comment. He said, "We're not here to sit, soak, and sour." And so when they made that announcement for a church plant on 19th Avenue and Grover's, we really felt like that was God's leading for us. And in going, our lives have become so full. Um both with the people there and um and ministry and being a part of a big picture. Serving in children's ministry is just a blessing.
· just the love of those kids and those babies and Bible study we see people growing in their personal relationship with the Lord. It's exciting and again it's just the beginning. I look back and I think you know sometimes things don't go exactly the way that you thought that they would but in the process God shows you that he has a bigger and better plan. And so you learn to trust God every step of the way. My life verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And I have seen the Lord do that in my life and taking me from a broken person with no hope and no future and turn my life around. And so it excites me to be able to share the gospel with people and to see their lives change and to see the Lord give them hope and a future. And that is what the gospel is all about.
· Let's go cross church.
· Didn't she do great? That was our very own Donna Wansky. Thank you, Donna, for being willing to do that. That was wonderful. I am Pastor DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church. So, if you're new, welcome. Um, and hope to get to know you more. You can come find me afterwards.
· I'd love to chat with you and and hang out, get to know you more. If you would now, open your Bibles to Matthew chap 28.
· And if you don't have one, there's some in the seat back in front of you. You can use that. And that is our gift to you. You can highlight it, underline, make notes, mark it up, bring it back uh next week. But that is your Bible if you don't have one.
· If you are visiting with us this morning, welcome. You have come at an exciting time in the life of our church.
· Uh we've officially launched last week our two-year disciplehip journey called Let's Go. And we are looking forward to seeing how God uses this to grow us and shape us into what he wants us to be.
· And I want to reiterate with something uh something our lead pastor Jackie said. So we are a collective, right?
· Cross church is a family of churches, a collective of churches. So this is of course cross church Phoenix and we have a cross church in Elmarrage, cross church in Cornville, we have cross church in Surprise and soon coming up we have Elesia de la Cruz which is cross church and they will meet at Elmarrage a completely all Spanish-sp speakaking church plant. And then we have crossurch mayor which will be starting I believe in the August September time frame up in Mayor Arizona. And so we are a collection of churches, a family. And we also have international churches. We have one in Myanmar, one in the Philippines, and one on the beautiful island of Kenna Tarkin that I want to go to someday cuz it's so beautiful there.
· Um, and so something that Jack, Pastor Jackie said in our vision video last week, and if you missed that video, it's online. If you go to crosschurchcares.com, you'll find it there. You can check it out. It's like a six, seven minute video that kind of unpacks more of what this is all about. Um, but he said that we live in a unique time in church history.
· And he's right. Across America, churches are closing at alarming rates and gospel lights are going out and some of them are being sold and turned into restaurants and apartment complexes and stuff like that.
· And here at Cross Church, we're all about making Jesus known. And God has positioned us in such a way that we have opportunities to keep gospel lights on where they're either going out or have gone out. Um, and there are opportunities we get to say yes to. You're sitting in one of those opportunities right now. Cross Church, Phoenix was uh started 10 years ago in 2016 and is the only church to survive that long. There was a handful of churches in and out of this location in a handful of years. Um so we are part of that, but we are passionate about keeping those gospel lights on. And so let's go is our response to the great commission.
· And one of the lines Pastor Jackie said that I'm going to steal cuz I like it.
· He said, "We're the Motel 6 of the church world. Uh we'll we strive to keep the lights on for you." And there are opportunities to say yes to. And then there are opportunities where you can't say yes to for two reasons. Either number one, you don't have a qualified biblically sound right Titus 1 Timothy 3 pastor. And then the second one would be no resources to do it. Let's just be real. It costs money to do a church plant or revitalization. That's just a matter of fact. And so our prayer is that you'll join us in this endeavor by engaging with our Let's Go mission. Our main goal, and I will ride this one till the cows come home, is 100% engagement.
· Um, how you engage the amount and all that. I don't want to know any that's between you and the Lord.
· I don't want to know. What I do, what I will stand on is the word of God. And giving is an act of obedience. an act of worship to the Lord. And so we pray I pray that you will engage with this. Um and if you didn't receive um an info page and commitment card last week, um we have a lobby display right out here to the left that has more information on all of this. It has called the one pager which is full of information on it and then a commitment card. And tonight uh we have our advanced commitment night.
· Everyone's invited. It's at our surprise church. It's you say, "Where's that?"
· 175th in Bell is the location of that.
· So, it's a little bit of a jaunt, but that's at 5:00 and it's going to be a night of worship, prayer, devotion. And if you want to turn in or make your commitment to the Lord early, that's why it's called Advanced, right? Um you can do that. And if not, if you can't make it out there, no worries. We will have our own um commitment Sunday here on March 29th where we bring and turn over um what the Lord has led us to do to him. Um, and so with that, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. I thank you that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to you.
· Pray God. I pray God that you would speak through me, Lord.
· that it would not be Pastor DJ's thoughts and opinions that are heard, but the word of God is spoken.
· The word of God is what will not return void, but will complete the work with which you've set it out to do. And I pray, God, that as we survey and look at the authority of Jesus Christ, that we will submit to it.
· pray that you would give us ears to hear what the spirit has to say to our church here at Cross Church Phoenix in Jesus name.
· Amen.
· Well, before I begin, I did this with 9:00 a.m. and I must confess something to you here at 10:30. I have a confession to make before I start. I wrote my outline and then I wrote my sermon.
· And well, as I wrote my sermon, I got a little bit carried away on the authority of Christ and I wrote the whole thing without making one point on my outline.
· Um, so I told Becky, I was like, I I'm in trouble. I wrote my whole sermon and I didn't make one point on the outline.
· Um, so here's what we're going to do.
· Uh, before we get into it, um, I'm going to give you all the answers early.
· because I know and if you have one, if you don't have one, they're on the back uh on the back uh tables in the back there. But I know that that there sometimes, you know, like I can't wait till I get the last blank and then when you give the last blank, you start hearing papers shuffle and Bibles closed, right? It's not over yet, right?
· So, here's what I'm going to do. Because they are great points, not because I wrote them, because the Bible teaches them. and then we will unfold the rest of where this is going. So if you have one of the outlines, you'll see fulfilling the great commission without fear. This is why we have nothing to fear in fulfilling the great commission because often times evangelism and sharing our faith and preaching the gospel uh we can be intimidated by the fear of man. And one of the main points that I want you to see um and I hope that you will at the end of this see that the authority of Christ frees us really um to do this. But we can fulfill the great commission without fear. Number one, we have nothing to fear because Jesus authority is absolute.
· Absolute.
· Number two, we have nothing to fear because Jesus authority is comprehensive.
· comprehensive.
· And then from Acts chapter 1, we have nothing to fear because the promise of the Holy Spirit is given to us. The promise of the Holy Spirit is given to us.
· Well, if you would, if you are able, let's stand together and read the great commission.
· Matthew 28 18-20 says this. Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
· Amen. You can be seated.
· Your life depends on the truth of verse 18.
· I could take that a step further. The lives of every single one of the over 8 billion people on planet Earth right now depends on the truth of verse 18.
· Actually, the fate of the entire universe as we've discovered it and as we know it depend upon the truth of verse 18.
· Before we even get into the commission, right? Verses 19 and 20, we go do this.
· Make disciples and teach them and baptize them because of verse 18. But we'll get to verse 19 next week.
· Jesus opening statement to the great commission is one of the most, if not the most polarizing statements ever made by anyone in human history.
· The history of the world has never seen a claim like verse 18.
· It is a claim to be God because if you possess all authority not just on earth but in heaven you are claiming to be God.
· Ultimately all of humanity can be divided into two groups.
· a group that believes verse 18 and a group that rejects verse 18.
· This was true in the first century during Jesus ministry on earth.
· The greatest threat to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the elders and all that, the greatest threat to them was the authority of Jesus Christ.
· This shows up in all of the gospels, but since we're in Matthew, I'm going to stick with the flow of Matthew.
· At the end of the sermon on the mount, which is Matthew 5-7, Jesus comes to the end of his teaching and it says there at the end of chapter 7, the people were astonished.
· Why?
· Why are the people astonished?
· And we get insight as to why. It says because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their scribes.
· The scribes wouldn't teach with their own authority. Their teachings were constant quotations of others. Um they would say, "Rabbi so and so says this," but then you know, "Rabbi so and so says that." And then, but you know what?
· Rabbi So and so's response to that is this, this, and this. And it just gets all kind of discombobulated and kind of boring.
· But they did not speak on their own authority.
· They didn't teach from their own authority. Their teachings were full of packed with illusions to the authority of others. And Jesus did not teach that way. Jesus didn't quote rabbi after rabbi. He said what? You have heard that it was said dot dot dot. But I say and we know what he says after that. Like you have heard that it was said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
· But I say that if you a man or woman looks at another with lust in their heart, they have committed adultery against them. already in their heart.
· But don't miss thee. But I say that is a claim to authority over what they've heard. What had they heard the ten commandments for example? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Christ is saying I have authority over that. Says the same thing, right? Uh you have heard that it was said thou shalt not murder. But I say, don't miss it. Authority. I say if you hate your brother or sister in your heart, you've committed murder against them. Right? So Jesus is teaching not just that he has authority over everything. Right? But also that sin can be committed in the mind. And there are different things. Yes, we could teach and preach on other aspects of that. But the point is Christ is claiming to have and does have authority over that.
· And Jesus authority threatened the scribes and the Pharisees.
· As Jesus min ministry continued, he this is chapter 8 of Matthew. He healed people. He cast out demons. He commanded nature.
· And he was gaining a following, right?
· All kinds of people are starting to follow Jesus right now. And it continued to threaten the Pharisees.
· And by the time you get to Matthew chapter 9, the drama builds. A paralytic is brought to Jesus for healing.
· Picture it in your mind. A paralytic is brought to Jesus for healing. What is the first thing Jesus says to that man?
· Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven.
· Huh?
· What? There's no mention of like sin in that in the context of that. There's like no mention of like sin before that.
· They just brought a paralytic to him for healing. And Jesus isn't like, "I'm sorry, but let me let me let me help let me hook you up." He will hook him up, right? But what was the most important thing? What was the first thing Jesus says? Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. As he's sitting there still paralyzed at the moment, have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. And that got everyone's attention. Say, "What?
· What did Jesus just say? Come again, Jesus.
· Did he just say what I think he just said?
· And if you remember the story, what the scribes begin to say to themselves, who is this guy? He is blaspheing this Jesus.
· Why do they think he's blaspheing?
· Because God they know because God and God alone has the authority to forgive sin. That's why they think he's blaspheing and they know it. They know God alone can forgive sin. That's theologically sound.
· And so if Jesus is claiming to forgive sin, we have a man claiming to be God.
· And as they reject him, they say, "Well, he must be blaspheming then."
· And Jesus, this is great. The text says it, right? Knows their thoughts. Love it. It's so great. He knows their thoughts.
· And he's just going to kind of pour some gas on the fire, so to speak.
· He intensifies an already tense situation. And he says, "Hey, this is Matthew 9:5. For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven." Or to say, "Rise and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." He then said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick up your bed, and go home." And here's what the man did. He rose, picked up his bed, and walked home.
· Is the whole point of that just that a paralytic was healed? You realize that's secondary to the text, right? That's a second glorious, wonderful point. But what was first? What the what did the paralytic need first? The paralytic needs his sins forgiven. What good is it if he is healed and goes to hell down the road with unforgiven sin? You realize sin doesn't send people to hell.
· unforgiven sin does. Hell is uh hell is full of people with unforgiven sin and heaven is packed with people whose sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.
· And the crowds were aruck, right? And it says they gave glory to God. Why?
· Because of Christ's authority. And he's not even in Jerusalem yet.
· And by the time he gets into Jerusalem, it's big- time controversy, right? Word is spreading about Jesus. It's big time.
· It is controversy over the authority of Jesus. And when he enters Jerusalem in Matthew 21 and verse 10, it says, "The whole city was in an uproar, saying, "Who is this?
· It's mass chaos. Get it out of your head that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey," which he did, but that everything was like hunky dory.
· That everything's rainbows and unicorns in Jerusalem. Yes, it would be Palm Sunday, which is coming up. Yes, they're saying hosana. Hosanna to the son of David. But don't forget that the same crowd will also yell crucify him in about four or five days.
· So I what I want you to get is that Jerusalem when Jesus comes in is experiencing bedum, mayhem, pandemonium, whatever word you want to use. It is chaos mixed with disorder, commotion, and confusion because you have people praising him. And then you have the Pharisees scrambling to get their act together. Who is this? Who on earth is this man coming to town?
· And what's the first thing Jesus does when he shows up in Jerusalem?
· He walks into the temple and cleans house, right? You remember?
· And in the temple, children begin shouting in the temple, hosana to the son of David. And when the chief priests and the scribe hear it, they're fired up.
· They're hot. The scripture says they're indignant. And they go up to Jesus and they say, "Can't you hear what these kids are saying?
· Jesus, these kids are saying hosana to the son of David.
· And Jesus says, "Yes, they're fulfilling prophecy.
· Have you not read that praise would come from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?" And he's quoting Psalm 8:2.
· Well, Jesus according to the flow of the story in Matthew as it unfolds, he leaves for the night and he comes back to the temple the next morning. And personally, I wonder how much sleep the Pharisees got because probably not much. But Jesus shows back up the next day in the temple the next morning. And what's the first thing on the Pharisees mind? Jesus shows up and they ask, "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?"
· We need to know who gave you, Jesus, authorization to come and do what you just did last night in God's house.
· And I love what Jesus does. Our master answers a question with a question, right? Don't you love when that happens to you?
· And Jesus says, "If you can answer this, I'll tell you where my authority comes from."
· And the question was this.
· Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it of human origin?
· What? Right.
· Why ask that question? Why ask about John the Baptist?
· Well, I'll tell you why. Because the answer to that question is the answer to their question, right?
· And the Pharisees knew it. They knew that if they admit that John the Baptist ministry is from heaven, then it Jesus minist then John's ministry must have been authorized by God himself. And if that's true, if that's true, then Jesus ministry must be from heaven, too. Because John's ministry was all about what? Pointing everyone to Jesus Christ.
· Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I am not worthy to untie this guy's sandals. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. And when people started coming to John, you know, after Jesus showed up on scene, um, you've been losing some followers, John the Baptist. Aren't you upset by that?
· More people are following Jesus than you. And he's like, great. Praise God, right? I must decrease. He must increase.
· John's ministry is all about saying, Jesus Christ is who it's all about. He's the savior of the world, the lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.
· And so if they give approval from that that John's ministry is from heaven, if they admit that, they must admit Jesus is who John said he is, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Messiah, and therefore what?
· Heavenly authority. Well, we can't admit that. We can't have that, right?
· Pharisees know that. We can't admit that.
· So they also know this though.
· Unfortunately, if they say John's ministry was of human origin, the crowd will turn on them.
· Why? Well, that would be because the fact that John was a legitimate prophet was common knowledge. It's like 2 plus 2 equals 4. Or if you go around saying, "Hey, you've been taught your whole life that 2 plus 2 equals 4, but I want to tell you that 2+ 2 actually means five."
· You'd be like, "What?" Right? If somebody went around saying, you know, John the Baptist was not a legit prophet, you would be written off. It was common knowledge that he was a legitimate prophet of God. No one was going around saying John was anything else. No one was going around saying John's a false prophet because it was obvious he was.
· And if they said John's ministry was his of his own making and that he was not sent by God, they would lose what? The crowd's respect, which is important to them.
· And Jesus knows that they know the answer.
· And Jesus also knows they're too proud to admit it, right?
· They're too proud to admit that Jesus authority is from heaven because they don't want to submit to him. That's why they love themselves more than the truth.
· They love their status, their opinions, their influence. For all of you influencers out there on social media, right? Love their influence more than the truth standing right in front of them.
· And so they come up with the proudest self-preserving answer they could possibly come up with. We don't know.
· Nice. Well done. Like wow. You know, you don't know exactly.
· They do know, but they will not admit it or submit to it. That's the problem. And Jesus knows it.
· And because of their disinterest in the truth, what does Jesus do? Refuses to answer them. Right? Neither will I tell you cuz you know the answer. But I'm not going to sit here and entertain your lack of interest in truth.
· So, see you tomorrow. Come back, try again. Right? See you later.
· And the next time Jesus authority is mentioned is right here in Matthew 28:18. The risen Jesus proclaiming all authority in heaven and earth belongs to him. I have one question for you this morning. Do you believe verse 18?
· Say, DJ, what is the point of your whole sermon? That say, DJ, the sermon lacks a lot of application. Uh, that is the application today.
· Believe. Verse 18, because that impacts everything else, right? How you live.
· If you believe Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, you can evangelize. You can preach Christ. You can live in honor of him. You can reject sin, battle sin, fight sin because of Christ's authority.
· Jesus claim is either true or false, right? Let's just be logical.
· It's either true or false. It's there's no in between. Either he has all authority in heaven on earth or he doesn't. So this room and everyone watching online um is filled with people who either believe or reject verse 18. But whether you like it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not, you must deal with Jesus claim to have all authority.
· You say, "No, I don't. I don't care."
· Great. That's your answer. Right? You reject his authority because you don't pay any mind to it. Right? There's your answer. Fine.
· But good luck with that.
· It's one thing to teach with authority, claim to have authority to forgive sin, clean out the temple with authority before you die.
· He did all those things before he died.
· Any mere man could have made the claims Jesus did before he died. Muhammad claimed authority as the final prophet and messenger of Allah dis delivering the Quran and yet he's dead and stayed dead. Joseph Smith claimed to have authority as a prophet and revelator, right? Receiving visits from God and bringing the Book of Mormon and yet he's dead and stayed dead. Only one has taught with authority, claimed authority over sin, claimed authority over God's house, claimed authority over all flesh.
· That's John 17, which we haven't even touched on. Made all those claims and died and didn't stay dead.
· Only one defeated death in the grave and ever lives to proclaim he has all authority in heaven and on earth.
· Mohammad no claim after death. He's dead. Joseph Smith dead.
· If you've Wherever they're buried, there's bones.
· But we know in Resurrection Sunday's coming, the tomb is empty. Why? cuz I don't know. He's seated at the right hand of the father ever living to make intercession for you and sent the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and direct you into all truth.
· He's alive. He's the only one to make a claim to have all authority in heaven and on earth who's still alive and defeated death.
· I don't know about you, but I'm going to go with the one who rose from the dead and submit to his authority.
· What about you?
· Is the Lord Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?
· A lot of people want Jesus as savior but not as Lord, right?
· But the scriptures teach both.
· He is not just savior. He is also lord.
· Do you believe he has all authority in heaven and on earth? That he has authority over our world, over our church, over let's go, right? and your involvement in that authority over it, right?
· He has authority over how you live.
· The New Testament isn't written just for for fun, right? There's lots of commands on how to live.
· Jesus is Lord over our church. He's Lord over uh heaven and earth. He's Lord over your finances. He's Lord over how you talk. He's Lord over what you look at.
· I'll say it again. You don't think that he still knows your thoughts 2,000 years later? Well, no. He knew the Pharisees and scribes thoughts. He doesn't know mine. Really?
· Really?
· In Revelation 12, the Apostle John gives us a glimpse into heaven.
· War has broken out in heaven. Yes, you heard me right. War in heaven. Michael and the angels are fighting Satan who is finally thrown out of heaven. Then John hears a loud voice.
· So I get to be loud when the scripture says it was a loud voice, right?
· And it says this. Now the salvation and the power in the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. One day one day Christ's authority will destroy all evil and wickedness.
· And that's just Revelation 12. There's more to Revelation than that.
· But there is also one who has the authority to open the lamb's book of life. Right?
· Who can open this book? No one can. And then Jesus comes. He can.
· Is your name written in the book of life? The one who has the authority to open it. the one who has the authority to judge.
· Judgment is coming.
· It is. It just plain old is, right?
· Second Timothy 4:2 is a popular verse.
· Preach the word, Paul tells Timothy, in season and out of season. But don't forget verse one, which tells him why to preach the word. Why, Timothy, preach the word in season and out of season?
· Because the one who will judge the living and the dead is coming by his appearing and by his kingdom. Read it yourself.
· 2 Timothy 4:1 is why we do 2 Timothy 4:2.
· And Christ has authority. And the most beautiful, glorious, wonderful part of that is his authority to forgive your sin.
· Only the one who's defeated sin and death has authority then to give you grace, to give you mercy, and to forgive you of your sin and bring you to himself.
· So all authority belongs to Christ. He's the author of our salvation. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. All power and glory belong to him.
· His kingdom is coming. The question is, will you be part of it?
· Will you be part of it?
· The only way to be is to be in Christ.
· That's it.
· Coming to church doesn't save you.
· Getting baptized doesn't save you.
· Reading your Bible doesn't save you.
· You are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone. And we know that from scripture alone, right?
· Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And you can do that right now.
· You can. And we're going to go into communion. And I know I've gone over um but the only way to be part of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Turn away from your sin. You say, "What does that look like?" All it looks like is saying, "I don't want my sin anymore. I want Christ." With all your heart, pursue Christ. Love Christ. Give your life to Christ. Make your life all about living for Jesus Christ.
· And so if you're joining us this morning and you um are going to partake in communion, if you haven't grabbed a communion packet yet, they're on the back tables back there. You can grab one. Um but I also want to give some admonitions. And if you're joining us online, feel free to grab the elements.
· Um but if you've trusted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, uh you are invited to join as we celebrate the Lord's Supper. You might say, "Well, this is my first Sunday at Cross Church Phoenix. I'm not a member." This is for believers. This is for those who are Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's you, you are invited to partake with us. But if you're here and you say, "I don't know Christ," um, I would invite you to watch us because the Bible takes us very seriously. But then second, you can know Christ today.
· You can come to him today. You can meet me at the I said yes corner in the back during the last song and we could talk whatever. I'd love to introduce you to the one who has authority over all heaven and earth, Jesus Christ.
· But the Bible teaches that we do communion, the Lord's supper. We do this in remembrance of Jesus, right? Looking back to his finished work on the cross.
· We also proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, looking forward to his coming.
· And then the scripture says, "So examine yourself." Right? Examine yourself.
· So what does that mean? Well, take a few minutes, take time right now to examine yourself. Are there sins that need to be confessed to the Lord? Is there anything in your life that you need to turn over to him?
· I'd also add this. Reflect on your your love for Christ. Do you love and cherish Jesus Christ?
· Because he's worth it. He's worthy of it.
· Is he everything to you? So, I invite you to take a minute and reflect before we partake.
· I definitely don't want to interrupt you. So, if you're if you're still praying, you can continue to pray, of course. Um, but if you will also peel back the smaller end which has the bread in it. Take the bread.
· Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 23. He said, "For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you.
· Do this in remembrance of me." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
· You are fully God, fully man, Emmanuel, God with us, tempted in every point as we are and yet without sin.
· Not even for a nancond, millisecond did you even think a sinful thought.
· Lord, we thank you for your life and for your death on the cross, your broken body which is for us. We do this in remembrance of you in Jesus name.
· Amen. Let's partake.
· If you flip it over and peel back the layer for the juice, Paul continues in his letter to Corenth 1 Corinthians 11:25 says, "In the same way, he Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Four.
· As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is a proclamation.
· Proclamation of what? The Lord's death until he comes. You kind of have to be alive to come, right?
· We proclaim his a living savior who died and rose again and who's coming back.
· This is a proclamation to a dying world that Christ is risen. Let's pray.
· Father, we thank you for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
· You are the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
· What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
· What could make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
· And we thank you, God, for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us, giving his life, for DJ, for us.
· God, we thank you for it. We pray that you would rid us, Lord, of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life, and fill us with your spirit. Fill us with those fruits of the spirit.
· Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those things are of the spirit.
· We need it now more than ever. We understand, Lord, that you have all authority.
· Well, the US and and Israel are at war with Iran, and what's going to go? You have all authority.
· Your authority is not threatened by any human authority.
· We thank you for that in Jesus name.
· Amen. Let's partake.
· I want to invite the worship team back up. I know we've gone a little over. I want to end with how Jude ends his epistle. It's glorious.
· Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.
· To the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.
· Amen. Let's stand as we sing our last song.
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Let's Go!
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· Hi, I'm Donna Waldansski. So, when I think of Cross Church, I think of family. I think of community. I think of how we can encourage each other and build each other up. Pastor Jackie made a comment. He said, "We're not here to sit, soak, and sour." And so when they made that announcement for a church plant on 19th Avenue and Grover's, we really felt like that was God's leading for us. And in going, our lives have become so full. Um both with the people there and um and ministry and being a part of a big picture. Serving in children's ministry is just a blessing.
· just the love of those kids and those babies and Bible study we see people growing in their personal relationship with the Lord. It's exciting and again it's just the beginning. I look back and I think you know sometimes things don't go exactly the way that you thought that they would but in the process God shows you that he has a bigger and better plan. And so you learn to trust God every step of the way. My life verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And I have seen the Lord do that in my life and taking me from a broken person with no hope and no future and turn my life around. And so it excites me to be able to share the gospel with people and to see their lives change and to see the Lord give them hope and a future. And that is what the gospel is all about.
· Let's go cross church.
· Didn't she do great? That was our very own Donna Wansky. Thank you, Donna, for being willing to do that. That was wonderful. I am Pastor DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church. So, if you're new, welcome. Um, and hope to get to know you more. You can come find me afterwards.
· I'd love to chat with you and and hang out, get to know you more. If you would now, open your Bibles to Matthew chap 28.
· And if you don't have one, there's some in the seat back in front of you. You can use that. And that is our gift to you. You can highlight it, underline, make notes, mark it up, bring it back uh next week. But that is your Bible if you don't have one.
· If you are visiting with us this morning, welcome. You have come at an exciting time in the life of our church.
· Uh we've officially launched last week our two-year disciplehip journey called Let's Go. And we are looking forward to seeing how God uses this to grow us and shape us into what he wants us to be.
· And I want to reiterate with something uh something our lead pastor Jackie said. So we are a collective, right?
· Cross church is a family of churches, a collective of churches. So this is of course cross church Phoenix and we have a cross church in Elmarrage, cross church in Cornville, we have cross church in Surprise and soon coming up we have Elesia de la Cruz which is cross church and they will meet at Elmarrage a completely all Spanish-sp speakaking church plant. And then we have crossurch mayor which will be starting I believe in the August September time frame up in Mayor Arizona. And so we are a collection of churches, a family. And we also have international churches. We have one in Myanmar, one in the Philippines, and one on the beautiful island of Kenna Tarkin that I want to go to someday cuz it's so beautiful there.
· Um, and so something that Jack, Pastor Jackie said in our vision video last week, and if you missed that video, it's online. If you go to crosschurchcares.com, you'll find it there. You can check it out. It's like a six, seven minute video that kind of unpacks more of what this is all about. Um, but he said that we live in a unique time in church history.
· And he's right. Across America, churches are closing at alarming rates and gospel lights are going out and some of them are being sold and turned into restaurants and apartment complexes and stuff like that.
· And here at Cross Church, we're all about making Jesus known. And God has positioned us in such a way that we have opportunities to keep gospel lights on where they're either going out or have gone out. Um, and there are opportunities we get to say yes to. You're sitting in one of those opportunities right now. Cross Church, Phoenix was uh started 10 years ago in 2016 and is the only church to survive that long. There was a handful of churches in and out of this location in a handful of years. Um so we are part of that, but we are passionate about keeping those gospel lights on. And so let's go is our response to the great commission.
· And one of the lines Pastor Jackie said that I'm going to steal cuz I like it.
· He said, "We're the Motel 6 of the church world. Uh we'll we strive to keep the lights on for you." And there are opportunities to say yes to. And then there are opportunities where you can't say yes to for two reasons. Either number one, you don't have a qualified biblically sound right Titus 1 Timothy 3 pastor. And then the second one would be no resources to do it. Let's just be real. It costs money to do a church plant or revitalization. That's just a matter of fact. And so our prayer is that you'll join us in this endeavor by engaging with our Let's Go mission. Our main goal, and I will ride this one till the cows come home, is 100% engagement.
· Um, how you engage the amount and all that. I don't want to know any that's between you and the Lord.
· I don't want to know. What I do, what I will stand on is the word of God. And giving is an act of obedience. an act of worship to the Lord. And so we pray I pray that you will engage with this. Um and if you didn't receive um an info page and commitment card last week, um we have a lobby display right out here to the left that has more information on all of this. It has called the one pager which is full of information on it and then a commitment card. And tonight uh we have our advanced commitment night.
· Everyone's invited. It's at our surprise church. It's you say, "Where's that?"
· 175th in Bell is the location of that.
· So, it's a little bit of a jaunt, but that's at 5:00 and it's going to be a night of worship, prayer, devotion. And if you want to turn in or make your commitment to the Lord early, that's why it's called Advanced, right? Um you can do that. And if not, if you can't make it out there, no worries. We will have our own um commitment Sunday here on March 29th where we bring and turn over um what the Lord has led us to do to him. Um, and so with that, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. I thank you that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to you.
· Pray God. I pray God that you would speak through me, Lord.
· that it would not be Pastor DJ's thoughts and opinions that are heard, but the word of God is spoken.
· The word of God is what will not return void, but will complete the work with which you've set it out to do. And I pray, God, that as we survey and look at the authority of Jesus Christ, that we will submit to it.
· pray that you would give us ears to hear what the spirit has to say to our church here at Cross Church Phoenix in Jesus name.
· Amen.
· Well, before I begin, I did this with 9:00 a.m. and I must confess something to you here at 10:30. I have a confession to make before I start. I wrote my outline and then I wrote my sermon.
· And well, as I wrote my sermon, I got a little bit carried away on the authority of Christ and I wrote the whole thing without making one point on my outline.
· Um, so I told Becky, I was like, I I'm in trouble. I wrote my whole sermon and I didn't make one point on the outline.
· Um, so here's what we're going to do.
· Uh, before we get into it, um, I'm going to give you all the answers early.
· because I know and if you have one, if you don't have one, they're on the back uh on the back uh tables in the back there. But I know that that there sometimes, you know, like I can't wait till I get the last blank and then when you give the last blank, you start hearing papers shuffle and Bibles closed, right? It's not over yet, right?
· So, here's what I'm going to do. Because they are great points, not because I wrote them, because the Bible teaches them. and then we will unfold the rest of where this is going. So if you have one of the outlines, you'll see fulfilling the great commission without fear. This is why we have nothing to fear in fulfilling the great commission because often times evangelism and sharing our faith and preaching the gospel uh we can be intimidated by the fear of man. And one of the main points that I want you to see um and I hope that you will at the end of this see that the authority of Christ frees us really um to do this. But we can fulfill the great commission without fear. Number one, we have nothing to fear because Jesus authority is absolute.
· Absolute.
· Number two, we have nothing to fear because Jesus authority is comprehensive.
· comprehensive.
· And then from Acts chapter 1, we have nothing to fear because the promise of the Holy Spirit is given to us. The promise of the Holy Spirit is given to us.
· Well, if you would, if you are able, let's stand together and read the great commission.
· Matthew 28 18-20 says this. Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.
· Amen. You can be seated.
· Your life depends on the truth of verse 18.
· I could take that a step further. The lives of every single one of the over 8 billion people on planet Earth right now depends on the truth of verse 18.
· Actually, the fate of the entire universe as we've discovered it and as we know it depend upon the truth of verse 18.
· Before we even get into the commission, right? Verses 19 and 20, we go do this.
· Make disciples and teach them and baptize them because of verse 18. But we'll get to verse 19 next week.
· Jesus opening statement to the great commission is one of the most, if not the most polarizing statements ever made by anyone in human history.
· The history of the world has never seen a claim like verse 18.
· It is a claim to be God because if you possess all authority not just on earth but in heaven you are claiming to be God.
· Ultimately all of humanity can be divided into two groups.
· a group that believes verse 18 and a group that rejects verse 18.
· This was true in the first century during Jesus ministry on earth.
· The greatest threat to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the elders and all that, the greatest threat to them was the authority of Jesus Christ.
· This shows up in all of the gospels, but since we're in Matthew, I'm going to stick with the flow of Matthew.
· At the end of the sermon on the mount, which is Matthew 5-7, Jesus comes to the end of his teaching and it says there at the end of chapter 7, the people were astonished.
· Why?
· Why are the people astonished?
· And we get insight as to why. It says because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their scribes.
· The scribes wouldn't teach with their own authority. Their teachings were constant quotations of others. Um they would say, "Rabbi so and so says this," but then you know, "Rabbi so and so says that." And then, but you know what?
· Rabbi So and so's response to that is this, this, and this. And it just gets all kind of discombobulated and kind of boring.
· But they did not speak on their own authority.
· They didn't teach from their own authority. Their teachings were full of packed with illusions to the authority of others. And Jesus did not teach that way. Jesus didn't quote rabbi after rabbi. He said what? You have heard that it was said dot dot dot. But I say and we know what he says after that. Like you have heard that it was said, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
· But I say that if you a man or woman looks at another with lust in their heart, they have committed adultery against them. already in their heart.
· But don't miss thee. But I say that is a claim to authority over what they've heard. What had they heard the ten commandments for example? Thou shalt not commit adultery. Christ is saying I have authority over that. Says the same thing, right? Uh you have heard that it was said thou shalt not murder. But I say, don't miss it. Authority. I say if you hate your brother or sister in your heart, you've committed murder against them. Right? So Jesus is teaching not just that he has authority over everything. Right? But also that sin can be committed in the mind. And there are different things. Yes, we could teach and preach on other aspects of that. But the point is Christ is claiming to have and does have authority over that.
· And Jesus authority threatened the scribes and the Pharisees.
· As Jesus min ministry continued, he this is chapter 8 of Matthew. He healed people. He cast out demons. He commanded nature.
· And he was gaining a following, right?
· All kinds of people are starting to follow Jesus right now. And it continued to threaten the Pharisees.
· And by the time you get to Matthew chapter 9, the drama builds. A paralytic is brought to Jesus for healing.
· Picture it in your mind. A paralytic is brought to Jesus for healing. What is the first thing Jesus says to that man?
· Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven.
· Huh?
· What? There's no mention of like sin in that in the context of that. There's like no mention of like sin before that.
· They just brought a paralytic to him for healing. And Jesus isn't like, "I'm sorry, but let me let me let me help let me hook you up." He will hook him up, right? But what was the most important thing? What was the first thing Jesus says? Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. As he's sitting there still paralyzed at the moment, have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. And that got everyone's attention. Say, "What?
· What did Jesus just say? Come again, Jesus.
· Did he just say what I think he just said?
· And if you remember the story, what the scribes begin to say to themselves, who is this guy? He is blaspheing this Jesus.
· Why do they think he's blaspheing?
· Because God they know because God and God alone has the authority to forgive sin. That's why they think he's blaspheing and they know it. They know God alone can forgive sin. That's theologically sound.
· And so if Jesus is claiming to forgive sin, we have a man claiming to be God.
· And as they reject him, they say, "Well, he must be blaspheming then."
· And Jesus, this is great. The text says it, right? Knows their thoughts. Love it. It's so great. He knows their thoughts.
· And he's just going to kind of pour some gas on the fire, so to speak.
· He intensifies an already tense situation. And he says, "Hey, this is Matthew 9:5. For which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven." Or to say, "Rise and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." He then said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick up your bed, and go home." And here's what the man did. He rose, picked up his bed, and walked home.
· Is the whole point of that just that a paralytic was healed? You realize that's secondary to the text, right? That's a second glorious, wonderful point. But what was first? What the what did the paralytic need first? The paralytic needs his sins forgiven. What good is it if he is healed and goes to hell down the road with unforgiven sin? You realize sin doesn't send people to hell.
· unforgiven sin does. Hell is uh hell is full of people with unforgiven sin and heaven is packed with people whose sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ.
· And the crowds were aruck, right? And it says they gave glory to God. Why?
· Because of Christ's authority. And he's not even in Jerusalem yet.
· And by the time he gets into Jerusalem, it's big- time controversy, right? Word is spreading about Jesus. It's big time.
· It is controversy over the authority of Jesus. And when he enters Jerusalem in Matthew 21 and verse 10, it says, "The whole city was in an uproar, saying, "Who is this?
· It's mass chaos. Get it out of your head that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey," which he did, but that everything was like hunky dory.
· That everything's rainbows and unicorns in Jerusalem. Yes, it would be Palm Sunday, which is coming up. Yes, they're saying hosana. Hosanna to the son of David. But don't forget that the same crowd will also yell crucify him in about four or five days.
· So I what I want you to get is that Jerusalem when Jesus comes in is experiencing bedum, mayhem, pandemonium, whatever word you want to use. It is chaos mixed with disorder, commotion, and confusion because you have people praising him. And then you have the Pharisees scrambling to get their act together. Who is this? Who on earth is this man coming to town?
· And what's the first thing Jesus does when he shows up in Jerusalem?
· He walks into the temple and cleans house, right? You remember?
· And in the temple, children begin shouting in the temple, hosana to the son of David. And when the chief priests and the scribe hear it, they're fired up.
· They're hot. The scripture says they're indignant. And they go up to Jesus and they say, "Can't you hear what these kids are saying?
· Jesus, these kids are saying hosana to the son of David.
· And Jesus says, "Yes, they're fulfilling prophecy.
· Have you not read that praise would come from the mouths of infants and nursing babies?" And he's quoting Psalm 8:2.
· Well, Jesus according to the flow of the story in Matthew as it unfolds, he leaves for the night and he comes back to the temple the next morning. And personally, I wonder how much sleep the Pharisees got because probably not much. But Jesus shows back up the next day in the temple the next morning. And what's the first thing on the Pharisees mind? Jesus shows up and they ask, "By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?"
· We need to know who gave you, Jesus, authorization to come and do what you just did last night in God's house.
· And I love what Jesus does. Our master answers a question with a question, right? Don't you love when that happens to you?
· And Jesus says, "If you can answer this, I'll tell you where my authority comes from."
· And the question was this.
· Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it of human origin?
· What? Right.
· Why ask that question? Why ask about John the Baptist?
· Well, I'll tell you why. Because the answer to that question is the answer to their question, right?
· And the Pharisees knew it. They knew that if they admit that John the Baptist ministry is from heaven, then it Jesus minist then John's ministry must have been authorized by God himself. And if that's true, if that's true, then Jesus ministry must be from heaven, too. Because John's ministry was all about what? Pointing everyone to Jesus Christ.
· Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I am not worthy to untie this guy's sandals. He's the Messiah. He's the Christ. And when people started coming to John, you know, after Jesus showed up on scene, um, you've been losing some followers, John the Baptist. Aren't you upset by that?
· More people are following Jesus than you. And he's like, great. Praise God, right? I must decrease. He must increase.
· John's ministry is all about saying, Jesus Christ is who it's all about. He's the savior of the world, the lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world.
· And so if they give approval from that that John's ministry is from heaven, if they admit that, they must admit Jesus is who John said he is, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Messiah, and therefore what?
· Heavenly authority. Well, we can't admit that. We can't have that, right?
· Pharisees know that. We can't admit that.
· So they also know this though.
· Unfortunately, if they say John's ministry was of human origin, the crowd will turn on them.
· Why? Well, that would be because the fact that John was a legitimate prophet was common knowledge. It's like 2 plus 2 equals 4. Or if you go around saying, "Hey, you've been taught your whole life that 2 plus 2 equals 4, but I want to tell you that 2+ 2 actually means five."
· You'd be like, "What?" Right? If somebody went around saying, you know, John the Baptist was not a legit prophet, you would be written off. It was common knowledge that he was a legitimate prophet of God. No one was going around saying John was anything else. No one was going around saying John's a false prophet because it was obvious he was.
· And if they said John's ministry was his of his own making and that he was not sent by God, they would lose what? The crowd's respect, which is important to them.
· And Jesus knows that they know the answer.
· And Jesus also knows they're too proud to admit it, right?
· They're too proud to admit that Jesus authority is from heaven because they don't want to submit to him. That's why they love themselves more than the truth.
· They love their status, their opinions, their influence. For all of you influencers out there on social media, right? Love their influence more than the truth standing right in front of them.
· And so they come up with the proudest self-preserving answer they could possibly come up with. We don't know.
· Nice. Well done. Like wow. You know, you don't know exactly.
· They do know, but they will not admit it or submit to it. That's the problem. And Jesus knows it.
· And because of their disinterest in the truth, what does Jesus do? Refuses to answer them. Right? Neither will I tell you cuz you know the answer. But I'm not going to sit here and entertain your lack of interest in truth.
· So, see you tomorrow. Come back, try again. Right? See you later.
· And the next time Jesus authority is mentioned is right here in Matthew 28:18. The risen Jesus proclaiming all authority in heaven and earth belongs to him. I have one question for you this morning. Do you believe verse 18?
· Say, DJ, what is the point of your whole sermon? That say, DJ, the sermon lacks a lot of application. Uh, that is the application today.
· Believe. Verse 18, because that impacts everything else, right? How you live.
· If you believe Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, you can evangelize. You can preach Christ. You can live in honor of him. You can reject sin, battle sin, fight sin because of Christ's authority.
· Jesus claim is either true or false, right? Let's just be logical.
· It's either true or false. It's there's no in between. Either he has all authority in heaven on earth or he doesn't. So this room and everyone watching online um is filled with people who either believe or reject verse 18. But whether you like it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not, you must deal with Jesus claim to have all authority.
· You say, "No, I don't. I don't care."
· Great. That's your answer. Right? You reject his authority because you don't pay any mind to it. Right? There's your answer. Fine.
· But good luck with that.
· It's one thing to teach with authority, claim to have authority to forgive sin, clean out the temple with authority before you die.
· He did all those things before he died.
· Any mere man could have made the claims Jesus did before he died. Muhammad claimed authority as the final prophet and messenger of Allah dis delivering the Quran and yet he's dead and stayed dead. Joseph Smith claimed to have authority as a prophet and revelator, right? Receiving visits from God and bringing the Book of Mormon and yet he's dead and stayed dead. Only one has taught with authority, claimed authority over sin, claimed authority over God's house, claimed authority over all flesh.
· That's John 17, which we haven't even touched on. Made all those claims and died and didn't stay dead.
· Only one defeated death in the grave and ever lives to proclaim he has all authority in heaven and on earth.
· Mohammad no claim after death. He's dead. Joseph Smith dead.
· If you've Wherever they're buried, there's bones.
· But we know in Resurrection Sunday's coming, the tomb is empty. Why? cuz I don't know. He's seated at the right hand of the father ever living to make intercession for you and sent the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you and direct you into all truth.
· He's alive. He's the only one to make a claim to have all authority in heaven and on earth who's still alive and defeated death.
· I don't know about you, but I'm going to go with the one who rose from the dead and submit to his authority.
· What about you?
· Is the Lord Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior?
· A lot of people want Jesus as savior but not as Lord, right?
· But the scriptures teach both.
· He is not just savior. He is also lord.
· Do you believe he has all authority in heaven and on earth? That he has authority over our world, over our church, over let's go, right? and your involvement in that authority over it, right?
· He has authority over how you live.
· The New Testament isn't written just for for fun, right? There's lots of commands on how to live.
· Jesus is Lord over our church. He's Lord over uh heaven and earth. He's Lord over your finances. He's Lord over how you talk. He's Lord over what you look at.
· I'll say it again. You don't think that he still knows your thoughts 2,000 years later? Well, no. He knew the Pharisees and scribes thoughts. He doesn't know mine. Really?
· Really?
· In Revelation 12, the Apostle John gives us a glimpse into heaven.
· War has broken out in heaven. Yes, you heard me right. War in heaven. Michael and the angels are fighting Satan who is finally thrown out of heaven. Then John hears a loud voice.
· So I get to be loud when the scripture says it was a loud voice, right?
· And it says this. Now the salvation and the power in the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God. One day one day Christ's authority will destroy all evil and wickedness.
· And that's just Revelation 12. There's more to Revelation than that.
· But there is also one who has the authority to open the lamb's book of life. Right?
· Who can open this book? No one can. And then Jesus comes. He can.
· Is your name written in the book of life? The one who has the authority to open it. the one who has the authority to judge.
· Judgment is coming.
· It is. It just plain old is, right?
· Second Timothy 4:2 is a popular verse.
· Preach the word, Paul tells Timothy, in season and out of season. But don't forget verse one, which tells him why to preach the word. Why, Timothy, preach the word in season and out of season?
· Because the one who will judge the living and the dead is coming by his appearing and by his kingdom. Read it yourself.
· 2 Timothy 4:1 is why we do 2 Timothy 4:2.
· And Christ has authority. And the most beautiful, glorious, wonderful part of that is his authority to forgive your sin.
· Only the one who's defeated sin and death has authority then to give you grace, to give you mercy, and to forgive you of your sin and bring you to himself.
· So all authority belongs to Christ. He's the author of our salvation. The alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. All power and glory belong to him.
· His kingdom is coming. The question is, will you be part of it?
· Will you be part of it?
· The only way to be is to be in Christ.
· That's it.
· Coming to church doesn't save you.
· Getting baptized doesn't save you.
· Reading your Bible doesn't save you.
· You are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone. And we know that from scripture alone, right?
· Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. And you can do that right now.
· You can. And we're going to go into communion. And I know I've gone over um but the only way to be part of the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, is to repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. Turn away from your sin. You say, "What does that look like?" All it looks like is saying, "I don't want my sin anymore. I want Christ." With all your heart, pursue Christ. Love Christ. Give your life to Christ. Make your life all about living for Jesus Christ.
· And so if you're joining us this morning and you um are going to partake in communion, if you haven't grabbed a communion packet yet, they're on the back tables back there. You can grab one. Um but I also want to give some admonitions. And if you're joining us online, feel free to grab the elements.
· Um but if you've trusted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, uh you are invited to join as we celebrate the Lord's Supper. You might say, "Well, this is my first Sunday at Cross Church Phoenix. I'm not a member." This is for believers. This is for those who are Christians who love the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's you, you are invited to partake with us. But if you're here and you say, "I don't know Christ," um, I would invite you to watch us because the Bible takes us very seriously. But then second, you can know Christ today.
· You can come to him today. You can meet me at the I said yes corner in the back during the last song and we could talk whatever. I'd love to introduce you to the one who has authority over all heaven and earth, Jesus Christ.
· But the Bible teaches that we do communion, the Lord's supper. We do this in remembrance of Jesus, right? Looking back to his finished work on the cross.
· We also proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, looking forward to his coming.
· And then the scripture says, "So examine yourself." Right? Examine yourself.
· So what does that mean? Well, take a few minutes, take time right now to examine yourself. Are there sins that need to be confessed to the Lord? Is there anything in your life that you need to turn over to him?
· I'd also add this. Reflect on your your love for Christ. Do you love and cherish Jesus Christ?
· Because he's worth it. He's worthy of it.
· Is he everything to you? So, I invite you to take a minute and reflect before we partake.
· I definitely don't want to interrupt you. So, if you're if you're still praying, you can continue to pray, of course. Um, but if you will also peel back the smaller end which has the bread in it. Take the bread.
· Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11 23. He said, "For I receive from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you.
· Do this in remembrance of me." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the broken body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
· You are fully God, fully man, Emmanuel, God with us, tempted in every point as we are and yet without sin.
· Not even for a nancond, millisecond did you even think a sinful thought.
· Lord, we thank you for your life and for your death on the cross, your broken body which is for us. We do this in remembrance of you in Jesus name.
· Amen. Let's partake.
· If you flip it over and peel back the layer for the juice, Paul continues in his letter to Corenth 1 Corinthians 11:25 says, "In the same way, he Jesus also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Four.
· As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is a proclamation.
· Proclamation of what? The Lord's death until he comes. You kind of have to be alive to come, right?
· We proclaim his a living savior who died and rose again and who's coming back.
· This is a proclamation to a dying world that Christ is risen. Let's pray.
· Father, we thank you for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
· You are the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
· What can wash away our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
· What could make us whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
· And we thank you, God, for the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin for us, giving his life, for DJ, for us.
· God, we thank you for it. We pray that you would rid us, Lord, of lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life, and fill us with your spirit. Fill us with those fruits of the spirit.
· Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Those things are of the spirit.
· We need it now more than ever. We understand, Lord, that you have all authority.
· Well, the US and and Israel are at war with Iran, and what's going to go? You have all authority.
· Your authority is not threatened by any human authority.
· We thank you for that in Jesus name.
· Amen. Let's partake.
· I want to invite the worship team back up. I know we've gone a little over. I want to end with how Jude ends his epistle. It's glorious.
· Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.
· To the only God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever.
· Amen. Let's stand as we sing our last song.
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