DEC 3 2017

Sea Change Church · Adam Stadtmiller · December 3, 2017
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

This is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Aminadab, Aminadab the father of Nation, Nation the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife. The word of the Lord.

Love coming to church. Love it. Good to have you. Hey, if you have your Bibles or your phones, open them up to that Matthew text. One of my favorite modern prophets goes by the name of Ricky Bobby. I don't know if you know who Ricky Bobby is. Not really a prophet, but there's a scene in a movie called Talladega Nights, which I am not endorsing, but I will endorse raspberry misty mountain flavor.

Sorry, if you've seen the movie, you'll get it. Like four people get that nonetheless. Ricky Bobby is a southern race car driver who defies all the odds to take the NASCAR circuit by storm. And he is sitting at his table to eat. And as he gets ready to eat, he begins to say the grace. And as he prays the grace, he has a particular Jesus who he likes.

And I don't know if you know who that Jesus is, but that Jesus is baby Jesus. And so he begins to pray and he says, dear Lord, baby Jesus. And his wife says, do you always have to pray to baby Jesus? He was an adult. He actually grew up. He's all, I like the baby Jesus. You can like whatever Jesus you want, the adult version with the beard or the adolescent Jesus.

But I want to pray to baby Jesus. So he starts again and he says, baby Jesus, your golden fleece diaper. I just think it's hilarious. All right. And then his partner sitting next to him who came to the meal and it's all full of like KFC and Pepsi Cola. And all of a sudden he says, I like to picture Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because it says like I'm formal, but I like to party.

And I like my Jesus to party. And I was like, that's hilarious. Then the kid says, no, I like, I like picturing Jesus as a ninja fighting off evil spirits. You know, I can see that you don't think it's as funny as I do. I love it at the end. It's like that grace felt good. I can't lie. I thought that grace felt good. I should feel it afterward.

By the way, this grace has been sponsored by Misty Mountain. Sorry. Powerade. The reason I bring him up, I told my daughter I would work Ricky Bobby into a sermon. She said, dad, you did it. I'll show you if I did it or not. But we all have a favorite form of the Jesus we want. We decide if it's Jesus the bro. Jesus the, you know, the icon of grace that lets us off and never talks about sin.

Jesus the paternal dad who gives us clear boundaries and rules and we follow those rules. Could be baby Jesus, adolescent Jesus. But one of the things that the Jewish nation had an issue with was Jesus as a heavenly king and not an earthly king. And they struggled with the idea when Jesus didn't fit the box that they wanted Jesus to be in. We're looking at the gift.

Jesus is a baby through four gospels. And in the scriptures, in the four gospels, each writer has a different take on who Jesus is. You have the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And then you have John, which is a little bit different. We'll get to John. But when we talk about Matthew, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience. He is trying to convince the Jews that this is the Jesus that the Old Testament spoke about.

This is the Jesus that was meant to come into the world. And what's so interesting, I hadn't thought about this before. Matthew takes an accounting. Can we turn the lights up a little bit? I feel like I'm ready to order dinner. If it's possible. There we go. Merry Christmas right there. Thank you. You're welcome. All you that have eyesight like me. No, back up.

Olin. Olin. Nasty. He takes an accounting. And they said, gee, he took an accounting. And then I realized, Matthew was an accountant. Remember, he was a tax collector. Of course, he's going to take a detailed accounting. And so many of the, well, actually, every book that is written in the Bible, God blends the personality of that person as they write.

And he loves to collaborate with us. And he's collaborating with you as he is the author and perfecter of your faith. And so my question is, are you even holding the pen as we begin to write in this season? And I really want to challenge you to slow down at Christmas. Just slow down and enjoy the gift in this season, this Advent season. A time to rest.

A time to be with the Savior. And so Matthew is writing and trying to prove Jesus is king. And one of the ways that the Jews, one of the things that the Jews are really into is lineage. Now, we have found out my wife's really into genealogy, okay? So I was just saying, we have found out that we are, that she, well, I don't have this. Because she did the genealogy test.

And I don't know how much you believe those are right or wrong. But she is, she is like 3% sub-Saharan, which means she's 3% black. She is, yeah, she woke up the other day. She goes, guess who's black? And I said, Darius Rucker? You know, I don't know. She goes, me. And she had gotten her things the other night. So I was like, wow. Found out that I'm like 6% Jewish.

What else? My wife's Native American. Now, we know from the Silvas that we are Hispanic as well. I mean, we were checking all the boxes in the Stattmiller home. Everyone's all on edge right now when I talk about that. Nonetheless, we are according to this genealogy. And one of the things that Jews are about is understanding where they come from.

And so as an accountant, that Matthew begins to talk to the Jews like they're Jews. And begins to go run down who Jesus is and the lineage of Jesus to prove. Now, here's what's so interesting. The lineage of Jesus is scandalous. I mean, have you actually thought about who's in it? There's five women that Matthew speaks about. And it's not just the women.

The men, you know, there's some men. There's some nasty guys that are doing things. King David being one of them. We're going to look at this lineage. I'm going to read through this. We're going to do a quick oversight. Because realize as Matthew is speaking, he is saying to the people that Jesus comes from this lineage that the prophets spoke about.

Matthew spoke about prophecy being foretold more than any other of the gospel writers. He's saying this. He's screaming it in a bullhorn. This is the chosen Messiah. Jesus says in verse 1, this is the genealogy of Jesus, who? The Messiah. So we start out right there. What is he trying to prove? It's his thesis statement. That Jesus is the Messiah. When you read Matthew, realize you could write on every page in a giant red marker, the Messiah.

That's what he is saying. The genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah. Now, he is the son of David. He is the son of Abraham. And those are things that mattered to the Jews. Because they knew that the Messiah would come through that line. Now, when we get to Luke, Luke is going to take the genealogy a little bit further back than Abraham. Does anybody know who Luke takes it to?

Adam. That's right. He takes it back to Adam because he is trying to prove that Jesus is the second Adam. And if one man, as it says, can die, or excuse me, can commit a sin that affects the whole race, the second Adam can come, and one man can die for the sins of all. That was one of the issues that the Jews had. And so Luke is trying to prove that.

So he's the son of David, the son of Abraham. But then it switches from the son language to start talking about fathers. Abraham was the father of whom? Isaac. Isaac, the father of Jacob. These are heavy, heavy hitters in the Jewish lineage. Heavy hitters. Jacob is the father of Judah. Why does Judah matter? Anyone know? And we got music to it. Judah matters because the Messiah has to come through the tribe of what?

Judah. So he mentions this is Judah. And then how does he mention the rest of his 11 brothers? And his other brothers. Right? Because they don't matter in the accounting. It's like there's a few little things that don't matter in this accounting. Judah is the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, a rejected woman. A woman who did not have children.

She was rejected and ends up to reverting to disguising herself as a prostitute. So that she can sleep and trick Judah into having children. So not only that, but Judah, who was in the line of Jesus, this man, hires a prostitute. Now you wouldn't want this in your lineage, right? You ever seen that show? I love that show. The genealogy show. That one guy does.

My wife knows the name of it. Finding Your Roots. That's what it is. Awesome. And it's like whenever they find the bad stuff, they're like, ooh, not so good. Not so good. Don't want to find that stuff out. God was not hiding any of this. And so this woman who is disgraced goes in order that she can be somehow redeemed by having children. And she deceives him by dressing up like a prostitute.

And Judah is the father. And Judah fathers, whose mother was Tamar, Perez, the father of Hezron. We're going to keep going. Hezron, the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Aminadab. And I've learned how to pronounce that. Aminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon, the father of Salmon. Or Salmon. Salmon. I think that's right. Salmon, the father of who? Boaz.

We know Boaz, right? Boaz. He's my homeboy. I love Boaz. A righteous man that was, you know, he feels like he was lonely. And God sends him who? Ruth. That's right. Boaz. Boaz's mother. Anybody know who Boaz's mother was? Rahab. Rahab. Do we remember Rahab? Rahab was prostitute. She was a prostitute in the forbidden city, the hated city of Jericho. Right.

I don't have to sing the sermon, but I can. And basically, the spies come in, and she harbors and hides the spies. And because not long ago they had left Egypt with the blood on the door on Passover, they tell her, when we destroy the city, you just put this red cord, this red, we don't wonder where the red light comes from and all that. You know, you don't have to put out the red light, police thing, the whole deal.

Amsterdam, we can go on, different things. It says, you put the red cord there, and we will not come to that door. And so she was saved. And not only was she saved, this prostitute woman was allowed to become part of the tribe of Israel. Not only did she become part of the tribe of Israel, she becomes part of the lineage of Jesus. What does that say about God and how much he is willing to pardon sin and say, you know what?

You can have a seat at my table. As soon as you start thinking that you've done something, that God just wants to abandon you and reject you, or you can't receive his grace, because whenever I try to sink down into God's grace, you know the first thought I get? But you did that. Oh, but you did this. God doesn't want to be with you. And we hide from God.

This just shows us, he just brings people in. This woman who was not only, I mean, she was on the other side of the aisle. She was an enemy of God's people that he promised to destroy. But she said, I will protect God's people. I will let them into my house. She hid them, let them out through the window. She becomes the mother of Boaz. Now you think about Boaz, the first generation offspring of this woman who was led into the tribe, and maybe they just let her in because, you know, that's what the law says to do.

We let the alien in and different things like that. But I wonder how much respect he really had. I wonder how much. Because he's the wife of a prostitute, and we know that he's got this lineage of Jericho in him. He's really there. But what does God do? God sends him his best. Ruth is just awesome. This is the lineage of the king. We see Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.

Obed was the father of whom? Jesse. Who's Jesse? The father of who? What does it say in the scripture there? No, it doesn't say David. King David. David. Don't think that the accountant made a mistake by putting King David's name in there. He didn't just say David. He said King David. Because Jesus is from a kingly line, and God can turn prostitutes into kings in a moment's notice.

You see, he does that with our sin. I want to give you hope today to say that now the Bible, when you look at a kingly line, and the reason we need to accept Jesus as king is because we are part of the royal, what? Priesthood. We are now in the lineage, and now this is starting to make sense to you as you read the New Testament about who God says you are once you have been ingrafted in, because there is no difference now between Jew and whom?

Us. Me and my whole mix of whatever I am. With my parents, they used to dress me up in the little German lederhosen outfit. I've got it. With a little hat, the brush. Little did they know that we were just everything. You know what I mean? This, what did you say we're a Heinz 57 sauce? You always thought we were something like that. All the different flavors.

Now, this is interesting, because David was not only king, David was a sexual abuser, and a lot of things are going on in the country right now, and you know how the Bible says that judgment starts at the house of the Lord? Like when God judges the people, he always starts at the steps, and he goes out. There's other references to that. It's interesting, about 10 years ago, the church just got hammered with all this sexual abuse stuff, right?

God just said, I'm going to start cleaning my house. But then he goes out from there. It's very interesting to see 10 years later, 15 years later, David was part of that. David was a man who abused his power, who God redeemed back, but he abused his power. And when it mentions his wife, Bathsheba, not by name, it doesn't say, and David, King David's wife, Bathsheba.

What does it say? Yeah. Shady. God's not afraid. of your sin. He's a sin killer. His grace is sufficient. And if we want to go by the law and follow the law, then we will be judged by the law. But if we want to follow the law of mercy, like it says in James, we will be judged with liberty, and God judges with liberty. This is the King, Jesus, and the lineage he comes from, full of common people, sexual abusers, people that have said that they were prostitutes.

The ashamed, the broken, the downcast. And this is the line I bring my kid through. That is, it's such a beautiful story. It's such a beautiful story. And you know what? We can all sign up and belong into that story. Separate of the headlines, separate of everything else, separate of all the things we use to divide. God will call us all into that.

The general thrust, as you'll see in your notes of Matthew's gospel record, record is to establish on behalf of the Hebrews that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah of the Old Testament scripture. Matthew has the lineage you'll see there in the notes presenting Jesus as Messiah. Jesus is a who's who, his lineage of Jewish history, like we've said.

He doesn't begin with David, but he goes on beyond all the way back to Abraham. And Matthew, as you'll see, uses 68 references to cite a connection to the Old Testament. Matthew is being illuminated as he looks into the scripture. Can you imagine Matthew, the accountant, having this Bible? Can you imagine the Bible study he had? He, can you imagine?

Seriously, have you ever had where the scripture starts opening up? God's been speaking to me a lot about the poor and a lot about a bunch of different things. But imagine Matthew, all of a sudden Jesus is gone. The Holy Spirit begins to water the seed that he is planting with his own curiosity and imagination. God loves curiosity. God, what do you have to say about this?

You get a topic and say, God, teach me about this. Start looking into it. See what the Holy Spirit does. He finally has a little something to work with. And so Matthew starts looking into this. And imagine Matthew getting the scrolls. And imagine his study times. He didn't just sit down and just start writing this off the top of his head. He began to look into this over years probably because it wasn't written the day after Jesus died.

And he began to see and it began to be proven. And it began all that began to come together in his mind to this beautiful portrait. This beautiful cacophony. A mosaic of who God is. And I want to just say, the Holy Spirit is still in the business of doing that today. If you will plant the seed of scriptural understanding in your heart. And desire to read God's word and begin to ask him.

He gave us that book for a reason. That we might know him. Matthew is illuminated and God wants to illuminate you. And James again says that ask for wisdom. And God will give you wisdom if you ask. Recently I had a dream. This is separate. Off the notes. I had a dream. And this figure in a robe comes to me. I wake up right before I wake up and gives me two books.

I woke up. It means nothing to me. And so I was just going to let it go by. And then I read. I heard on the scripture something about ask for wisdom. I said, God, give me some wisdom about what that meant. And I don't actually remember how it happened. But I kind of felt like with our Bible reading program, God wanted me to write the scripture by hand.

One was the Bible. One was an empty book. And so I went and I bought another journal. I love buying journals. Even if I don't use them. I have so many empty journals I've never written in. I'm not a journaler. But I love leather bound journals. So leather bound of books. Rich mahogany. Once again for just some of my friends who see movies. And so I began to write the book of James by hand.

And it's amazing how it just, when it slows you down and opens up. Get a journal and just start writing. We do it in the back here. Just start writing the Bible by hand. I do like half a chapter a day. It takes me 15 minutes. You will start remembering. It will just start bombarding you. It will show up and knock on the door of your life all week long.

It will just be there. Be illuminated by the scripture. Learn who Jesus is. And as he was doing his study, here's a couple scriptures he came across. He cited Isaiah 714 and declared that the supernatural conception of Mary as a virgin. With whom Joseph had not been intimate. Was which was fulfilled that the Lord had spoken through the prophet. And foretelling the nature of Jesus' birth.

Imagine when he understood the virgin birth for the first time. Wow. You know the scripture says God is willing to give you all mysteries. That we can understand. Not some. He's willing to give you access to all mysteries. Do you know, do you believe that like Matthew is not just some superhero. Like the Green Lantern or something. I like Flash better.

Flash. And that he wants to give you revelations just as powerful. If you'll look. Or do we just categorize these normal people. You know a bunch of prostitutes and murderers anyways by the way. But do we categorize them as these superheroes. That God would never speak to me that way. Look into who Jesus is. If you haven't seen who Jesus is. Look at.

We turn Jesus into a caricature. I think though. You know what's so interesting. As you. If you read the news or things like that. They talk about Christians a lot. They never talk about Jesus. Like I rarely ever see anybody actually want to have a conversation about Jesus. You know. They want to talk about what he was about. Let's talk about what he was about.

So he's illuminated there. Let's look at another one quickly. As he says to the Jews. This baby who was born in poverty. And maybe they weren't poor. But they had no place to lay their head. And born in a manger. This baby would become king. He says to him in Matthew 27 9. Finally Matthew alludes to the passage that picks Christ's betrayal. For the price of 30 pieces of silver.

Which fulfilled. And he uses that word. Fulfilled in Old Testament prophecy. Maybe God is saying. I want to fulfill some things in your life. But I have to let you know what I'm doing first. I have to give you a road map. I have to give you a manual. Well get into the word of God. And open up your future history. Do we believe that possible. That there are multiple ways our life can go.

According to the if statements of life. Because the Bible is full of that two letter word. If. If you do this. I'll do this. If you do that. I'll do that. That perhaps it's not just one understanding. We can you know chase the tail around the room forever. And say well if God knew. Then wasn't it for sure. But if you know. Or we can say that we can collaborate with God.

And change the very trajectory of our life. Once again. I don't know enough about Bobby Kennedy. I just picked up a book last night. Right. So I'm not. I'm not. You know. Look. I called my mom. I said mom what do you know about Bobby Kennedy. Because it's great to have somebody in your life. That actually lived through that season. But what I. What I. What I did like.

Was this understanding. Of going out. And giving to the poor. And as we look at him. I want to look at Jesus. And say Jesus. What do you have to say about the poor. Without using all the buzzwords. How do you want us to make a difference. This season. And you'll probably hear me speaking about that. Because I tend to preach. But I have to digest this a while first.

Before I do any preaching on it. So it'll be a few months. But we will talk about that. As the season comes up. For the holiday. Or for the Easter. Here's the deal though. The Jews. Wanted a different king. And much like. Ricky Bobby's family. They all had a king. They all had a. Jesus they wanted. One that they could relate to more. And I had. I felt God asked me the same question this week.

Are you willing to let me be king? Or are you just going to keep letting me be your bro? I remember when I. When I first turned my life back over to Christ. When I was 19. And somebody said to me. Jesus is like a bro. You can hang out with him. I was like. It just opened my whole life up. But I really like Jesus the bro. I just love my bro ham Jesus.

Jesus is king. Is a little bit. Different of a proposition. Because when the king asks you to do something. Might want to do it. Right? There might be some authority on occasion. On occasion. He might want to. Jesus my bro doesn't discipline me. He just high fives me. And says get him next time. Jesus the king. As it speaks about in James. Says he is willing.

To discipline. Us. He is willing to discipline us. For our sake. That we might grow. I don't like Jesus the king. Tell you what. I just. I am much like the Jews. I don't want the king that he offers. I often don't want a king. I want a bro. Who gives me a fist bump. And kind of lets me do my thing. But gives me some good advice on occasion. You know. Wants to watch the game with me.

Hang out. Will you let Jesus be king? Will you let Jesus say no. To you. And do you understand. There are consequences. Because we'll get to the more. To the sharper edge of this message. Because we did the grace portion. And we have to be. Equal. We have to have equality here. Right. That God on occasion. Will discipline you. As king. Because you're saying no to him.

Do you say no to a king. To their face. Do we. As it says. In the holy scripture. When we do that over and over again. We get to a place. Where we're blaspheming the holy spirit. Blasphemy of the holy spirit. Is the thing. Where we say no to God enough. To there's a point. Where God has a decision to make. Now I'm not. Smart enough of a theologian. To say what that.

Decision is. But the scripture clearly points. That if we turn from God over. And over and over again. He makes some decisions. Regarding us. We see that. They wanted a different king. Matthew illustrates. How the Jewish nation. Rejects Jesus. Ultimately crucifying him. But why? The Jews wanted a Messiah. On their own terms. They wanted an earthly king. Not a heavenly one.

That would save them. From their sins. When it came. To the Jews. They had a sacrificial system. That fixed all their sins. They didn't need to be saved from them. And that's why they didn't need Jesus. They also. Many of them. Were living. Were self-righteous. As Jesus said. They had no sin. That they needed to worry about. To be saved from. And that's why the scripture says.

If we claim that we have no sin. This was the issue. With the Jews. They had a system. To fix their sin. The Messiah that would come. They would keep their sin fixing system. And then have a kingly king. Who would come in. Take over the Romans. And take over everything. And they'd have a world domination. Along with their sacrificial system. This isn't what Jesus said.

He was a different king. That said. I came to be the king. Of the cosmos. I came to be the king. Of the human heart. But I don't need to be the king. Of this Jerusalem. Although there will be a new. Jerusalem. They wanted an earthly king. Not a heavenly one. That would save them from the sins. The Jewish leaders. Did not view themselves. As needing salvation.

Look into it. The Jewish leaders. Did not see themselves. As needing soul salvation. They saw themselves. As needing salvation. From an earthly. Repressive regime. That was holding them down. That's what they wanted. That's perhaps what Judas wanted. And it's not what Jesus came. To offer. This really struck me. And as I wrote. I wrote this for myself. If you can feed off of it.

Do it. The Jews wanted less. Than they were being offered. And did not have the spiritual imagination. Or faith. To see beyond. The temporal. I just want to say it again for me. You can sit there. As I do it. The Jews. Wanted less. Than they were being offered. And did not have the spiritual imagination. I love that term. The spiritual imagination. Or faith.

To see beyond. The temporal. Meaning. What they wanted for the moment. They couldn't see beyond that. Do you have the spiritual imagination. To see what God has for your future. They got the wrong ending then. Having rejected Jesus as king. The kingdom then. Was given away to what? Do you see what happened? They rejected the king. And so Jesus says. I will go to those who do accept me.

And because of their rejection. The end of Matthew's gospel. It ends the wrong way. Have you ever had a book. And the book ends. And you're really dissatisfied with the book. Like just dissatisfied. I was reading a book on the Mayflower recently. Just over Thanksgiving. I wanted to read about the Mayflower. And the pilgrims. And John Bradford. And all those people.

And I just threw that name out. I had no idea who he was beforehand. But it makes me sound smart now. So John Bradford. And all the others that were there. Um. And. I can't remember. And I got halfway. I got to the part where like. They had settled. And they were safe now. And then new people were coming. There was a hundred pages left. I was just bored.

I just put the book down. Matthew shouldn't have ended that way. If Jesus was king. And they accepted Jesus as king. They might have gotten. The worldly thing that they wanted. But Jesus would have been accepted as Messiah. By the Jewish people. That's how the book of Matthew should have ended. And then they go out. And who knows what happens from that point.

But instead. They say no. And what happens? The story changes. And the gospel goes to the Gentiles. And goes to us. The Bible speaks over and over about. Well thank God it came to us. And thank God that God will come back. And he will reunite. And fulfill all of his promises to the Jew. And to the Gentile. But they got the wrong ending. Because they didn't have the spiritual imagine.

Or faith. And I guess the question is. Is. Do we have a say in our ending? And perhaps the say we have in our ending. Has to do with the decisions we make in the moment. And the spiritual imagination to believe. Belong. And go further with God. Matthew 28. 19. That ending. How does it say? The very last verse. The very last verse of Matthew. After this whole thing.

The Jews. You know. Accept Jesus. Messiah. He's the Messiah. How does the book end? With them receiving it? No. They're. Therefore. Therefore. Because this didn't work out. Therefore. Go and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the fathers. And the son. And the holy spirit. And teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you always.

Always to the end of the age. Matthew. As we come in for a landing. Challenges us. In some very profound ways. First. Who do you say that Jesus is? And are you willing to allow him to be more than you want him to be? Jesus says. He doesn't say ask me. But for whatever you want. Jesus says. Thalo. Ask me for whatever you are willing. If you ask Jesus for whatever you want.

Then there are confines. There's confines to what you can imagine of how much you want. But asking whatever you're willing to ask him. God. Perhaps make me poor that I could understand poverty. Perhaps allow me to be disciplined for my sin. Those are really prayers. You know. Those are prayers we don't want to ask. Right? He doesn't say ask whatever you want.

The Greek word is ask whatever you are willing. My question is. Are you willing to ask for more? And are you willing to have Jesus be more than you want him to be? I am very comfortable with Jesus the bro. I don't like Jesus the king. I like him for different things. Christmas plays. Reading about Old Testament history with a cup of coffee. And theorizing what the king looks like.

But when it comes down to him saying no more of that. I forbid you to do that anymore. Not so much. No. Let's be bro. Are you willing to let Jesus be more? Are you willing to let him be who Matthew says he is? Because this book is screaming that he's your king. This book is screaming out to you that he is your Messiah. That is calling you to a much higher calling.

And do you have the. Do we have the spiritual imagination to press further? And then thirdly. And thereafter. Would you allow to be your king? Do you need salvation? It's a great question. We live in a world that doesn't need salvation. As you look at the social gospel movement. And study it. I'm Rosh and Bausch. And I think it's Rosh and Bausch. And others.

The early 1900s. They started this social gospel movement. In order to bring social equality to the world. And in the midst. Jesus got lost. And at the end of the article I read last night. It said. While they never were able to get to the point of. Bringing Christianity into all their social programs for the long term. Their greatest accomplishments can be said.

For birthing the modern liberalism movement. And I thought. I'm not sure they would have said. That was our best accomplishment. The world went from having a social gospel. That says help the poor. Care for the poor. And have Jesus be a part of it. To saying. You know what? We don't need salvation. We can save ourselves. Let's help humankind. And leave God out of it.

That's what's happened. I want to go back and really study what that looks like. To be a church. Who goes back to our roots. Of caring for the poor. Of bringing a gift. And doing those things. Do we need salvation? That's the question. Do you feel that you need salvation? If you're here today. And you've never asked Jesus. To be your king. Or to say to follow him.

I want to encourage you. To do that. We'll give you a chance in a moment. I want to give the final verse. And then we're done. It's a hope and a challenge. It says in Romans 10 13. For there is no difference between who? Jew and Greek. The same Lord is the Lord of all. And is rich to all who call on him. Now we know that that was going to happen anyways.

Even if the Jews would have accepted him. Because they had already brought in Rahab. We saw that Gentile prostitutes were allowed to come into the line. And so I think they could have had both and. And it says. The Lord is the Lord of all. And rich to all who what? Call on him. Call on the Lord. Lord help. He is rich. He is generous. Without finding fault the scripture says.

Go sit in your backyard. For 15 minutes. And just call on the Lord. Lord help me. Help. Help. Help. Here's a great one. If you have sin in your life. And you don't want to give it up. Just say. Pray this prayer. It's a good prayer. It's a good start. Lord make me bored of my sin. Please let it bore me. Just start there. Start with God. Let it bore me. Call up.

Because he is rich. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. Will be what? Everyone. Even prostitutes from Jericho. Even adulterers. Even rapists like David. All of them. Who call on the name of the Lord. Will be saved. How then can they call on the one whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear if someone doesn't what?

Preach. And so you know what I say to you church? Preach. Preach. Preach. Preach. Go out and preach. Go to your neighbors. Send them a card. Go out. Care for them. Write them a note. Karen and I were taking a walk in our neighborhood with our dog the other night. Last night 10 o'clock and somebody came out being pushed in a cart. And as we went by we realized that there was a blanket over the cart and it was the corner.

Three doors down. 10 o'clock at night we're walking the dog and just us and the family's there and it's like the day after Thanksgiving and it's dead quiet and it's like opportunity. Preach. What are you going to do? I want to challenge you. Preach. Preach the gospel. People are dying for Christians who are the real deal, who care for others. And I'm not just talking about the poor with money.

There is so much loneliness. One of the thrusts of this year is the loneliness in La Jolla. We have so much emotional poverty in this city. It's not even funny. We want to change the world. Will we let Jesus be king? Amen. Let's stand and have our ushers come, our communion people come forward. It's a beautiful day to take communion on this first Sunday of Advent as the candle burns.

Tonight, as we prepare, come back tonight. We're going to sing Christmas hymns tonight. Bring somebody. Come have some cookies and hang out and we'll have communion again tonight as we sing Christmas carols and really kick off this season. And if you need to reset your heart with just singing and making Christmas what it's about, the Messiah King, come do it tonight.

Thank you.