Long Live the King! Now and Forever

Well, I'm looking forward to bringing you this message, and I'm going to begin by asking you a startling question. I hope you have your seatbelts on and your airbags all ready to deploy, and to be able to take what I'm about to give you. That is simply this question, how radical is your understanding of being a disciple of Jesus Christ? I know right now, with a lot of the cultural pressures that are happening in society around us, and frankly, around the world, the word radical has come up quite a bit. But again, allow me to lay down this mantle, this question, how radical is your understanding of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ? Let's understand for a moment what the word radical actually means when you break it down. The word radical, the first syllable of radical is rad, and what that is really meaning is a root. Think of the word radish, radish, a root. So what radical really means is how found it, how grounded, how rooted are we as disciples of Jesus Christ? And what a wonderful question to ask, especially on this national holiday which follows on a weekly holy day, and here we are on July 4th.

On July 4th, I have what might be called a radical proclamation. A radical proclamation.

So are you ready to hear it? Now, let's remember, most of us that are listening are Americans. Most of us have studied American history to one degree or another. Most of us know what happened 244 years ago with the Declaration of Independence.

But on this day, July 4th, I want to make a radical proclamation, a radical proclamation as radical as the Declaration of Independence was. Are you ready? And it is simply this. Long live the king. Long live the king. Like they do over in England. Long live the king. You go, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. You don't know your history. Are you confused? You're an American.

How can you be saying long live the king? Didn't we get rid of King George III of the Hanoverian line? You know, 244 years ago, shoot, go away, stay across the pond. Well, let me bring this together for a moment and let's understand which king that I am talking about. Because before this message is done, I think all of us, even on July 4th, as Americans, we can say long live the king.

Allow me to tie this together by going back to when all of us were back in elementary school and we used to, not quite sure what happens today, but every day at school we always would say the Pledge of Allegiance and there'd be the little flag up above the chalkboard and then we would normally sing my country tis of thee. My country tis of thee. And I think most of us know it. At least the first stanza therein lies the challenge because most of us do not know all three or four stanzas.

I'm going to actually hop scotch over to the last stanza. So listen to this and it's actually in my country tis of thee. Our father's god to thee, author of liberty to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light. Protect us by thy might, great god, great god, our king. Isn't that interesting?

We're not talking about a temporal or an earthly king, but we're talking about something so much more special. Again, allow me to go right to scripture, one that you do know from that model prayer that Jesus gave his disciples. And it was simply this when he said, this is how you ought to pray. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom come.

Every kingdom has four things in common. Number one, it has a king. Number two, it has law. Number number two, it has law. Number three, it has territory. And number four, it has subjects. The ruler of the kingdom that I'm talking about, the king that I am talking about today to you, to ground you, to allow you to be radical and rooted into our calling by our heavenly father as a disciple of Jesus Christ, is to recognize that Jesus is our king, that he is the Lord of our life. And that's the good news that I bring to you today.

The good news. And we're going to build upon that. I'm excited about bringing this message to you to recognize that, you know, we look around right now, we look at all the interruptions that are occurring in our lives, and for many, if not most of us, they are really minor in nature compared to what some of our fellow citizens are going through.

As I mentioned about people separated from their loved ones, in hospitals and care centers, people that have lost their job, small businesses, even big businesses that have gone out of business and aren't coming back, and or the aspect of the social upheaval that is occurring not only in America, frankly, but throughout much of Western civilization right now with cultural clashes. And yet, we have these interruptions. We have these disruptions all around us, and you kind of say, you know, it's kind of like you take the newspaper in the morning and you kind of go like this if you still have a newspaper.

I'm going to make this for a moment. I'm going to make this by newspaper, and you know you kind of go down like this because you kind of, you know, you kind of get your hand here and you go, all right, oh no, that, oh boy, that's happening. You go down a little bit further. Oh, that's happening.

Oh no, wow, I didn't, oh boy, that's happening. And or you can just go right down your internet screen and you're reading one of your news items on the thing. You know, you look at that word news, which, you know, comes from north, east, west, and south, and you say news.

Most of the news that we have today, unfortunately, in our newspapers and are on our internet screen right here, and you look at it, you look at it, and it's depressing. And sometimes you can kind of get caught up in the cycle right now. So much is happening everywhere that you look at it, and you almost become mesmerized, and you know, all this stuff's kind of coming at you, and you know, I go, I don't know how much more I, then you take more for another hour, and it kind of repeats, and then there's a, an add-on, a little bit more seasoning by one of the cable news networks, whatever you're watching, and you really recognize how divided people are, and how much negativity is coming at us that we really, we really do a great degree, speaking to myself, we need to learn to fast some.

Oh yeah, we don't want to put our, our heads in the sand like an ostrich, the proverbial ostrich, but we just have this stream of bad coming at us, and instead of news, calling it news, you know, you take a, you take that, which is like a paper, what's, you want to call it baths, B-A-D-S.

Well, I've got, I've got a news alert for you, my own news alert. I'm going to bring you some good news today, and it's good news that I just don't want to share for a few minutes here. I hope that with some of what I'm going to share with you, I'm going to bring you some good news. We're going to go to the scripture, the good book, that is inspired by a good God that describes a good king, the Lord of our life, and one that is coming to this earth. And I want to help us kind of get a perspective and get girded with what's going on around us right now, and look at what God says, because the really big headlines, the great headlines, the enduring headlines, are not coming from Los Angeles. They're not coming from Seattle. They're not coming from Chicago. They're not coming from New York. They're not coming from London, and they're not coming from Paris. They're coming from a realm above us. They're coming from heaven above with someone who knows what he is doing and is going to bring it to completion. And so I want to bring this news. Sometimes, you know, you'll be watching something, and it will say, whatever the station is, news alert. Well, this is the K-O-G, the kingdom of God, news alert. Your local reporter, Robin Weber, going to share some thoughts with you this afternoon that will encourage you, that will hopefully lift you up, that will allow you to see beyond the bad news, things that are happening down here below, and get us anchored, and to look beyond the moment, and recognize what God is doing for each and every one of us. So allow me to—let's go to 1 Corinthians 2 if you'll join me for a second. 1 Corinthians 2. In the book of Corinthians, because this good news, I'm the local reporter, but I'm not the producer. I'm just sharing what the producer is doing, and the producer is God the Father. I mean, notice here in 1 Corinthians 2, and beginning in verse 9, but—now, I'm actually going to go up to verse 7. Pardon me, verse 7. But we speak the wisdom, the wisdom of God in a mystery. That doesn't mean like a mystery book, where—no, it means something that is being rolled out and revealed.

The hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages of our glory, for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for they had known they would not have crucified the Lord— and Lord is just another word for master or king—the King of glory. But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard—are you with me? The human eye, the human ear, cannot of and by itself hear this news alert. Understand this good news. It's a miracle. Nor is entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

Today is July 4th, and it was the day that what had actually previously been signed was declared to the masses and to the audiences. The Declaration of Independence was given to maintain a revolution against the greatest empire on earth at that time.

Men had left their wives and children behind, had left their farms that needed harvesting behind, had left their shops behind, and it wasn't going too good. As we know, as Washington was taking his army from place to place, not in advance, but basically in retreat, and men were beginning to say, what is this all about? Why should we remain away from our families, our wives, our children, our dear ones? Is it really worth it what we're going through? And so the leaders in the Continental Congress drafted the Declaration of Independence, and it was a Declaration of Independence from the world that had been known.

One of the greatest human articles that has ever been produced, it was an interruption, and it was a disruption of human history that people scattered along the eastern seaboard of America, 13 different colonies, and they thought of themselves as colonies, could somehow unite in some loose confederation against that which they all wanted to reject and move away from. It was a revolution. They had to have a purpose so that in the course of human events, when it becomes necessary for one nation to dissolve its beings from another, and you know that rest of the first paragraph, there was a divorce from that which was around that had been.

A people that had not been a people were going to become this, ultimately, this United States of America. It was a revolution. It would later be followed by the French Revolution. It would later be followed 120 years later, 140 years later, by a Russian Revolution. While all men are created equal, not all revolutions are created equal, are they? When you look at history and you study those three different revolutions, but there was a revolution.

But what I'm trying to share with you now, dear friends, in 1 Corinthians 2, is there is a revolution, but it's not of man, it's of God. There is a disruption. There is a disruption, and there is an interruption by God Almighty, the God of heaven and earth. And he looks at them as one, not two different realms, but one. They're all his. And he is choosing to interrupt human history through calling you and me as firstfruits, as elect, as members of a body called the Body of Christ. And there is going to be disruption.

So there is a revolution, but it comes by revelation. And that revelation is what I want to, do I dare say, radicalize you with today. That means to be grounded, to be rooted, to be firm, and to allow that Holy Taproot to go down so deep that you will not be shaken with the bad news and what's going on out here that is so easy to that is so that can just so easily draw our attention away from the promises of God.

So the title of my message is simply this, Long Live the King. Long Live the King. There's a little bit more now and forever. Let's talk about how radical it is, the plan of God and what he's brought about down through the ages. Join me if you would in Mark 1.14. Join me in Mark 1.14. So Mark 1.14, and many of us will be familiar with this, but I hope to draw some extra items in to recognize how revolutionary this was and what was really going on to give you some context as far as the plan of God and how he brought it together.

And we look at Mark 1, verse 14, where it says, Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching, sharing the gospel of the kingdom of God, a kingdom, and kingdoms have kings, and saying that time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the good news, not the bad news, not the bad news, not the kind of news that just makes you want to curl up and wonder if life is worth living, but the good news that makes you and me understand that life, no matter what comes our way, is worth living and that we are not alone.

Jesus came preaching the gospel, and in that he inaugurated the kingdom of God on this earth. It had been spoken about, it had been prophesied about, that one would come, that one would share, that Messiah would be all the way back from the very beginning, the promises to Adam and Eve, what was spoken about the seed of Eve, the promises to Israel. But now comes the one, and he is inaugurating that kingdom. He's laying down the marker, and every kingdom has a king, and to recognize that.

It's not only how he started talking about the kingdom, but that's how he ended. Join me if you would in John 18. At the very end of John 18, he came with a purpose. He came with a purpose in John 18. Verse 30—let's go to verse 34—that we're breaking in right into the conversation with Jesus and with Pilate, Pontius Pilate. He's on trial. Trial can make you a little bit shaky. It can kind of make you pull up your roots and take them somewhere else. But Jesus set the example of what he knew and what he came to this earth for was right out in front of him. He would not waver. He would not quiver. He would not quiver. He was about his father's purpose. And Jesus answered, are you speaking for yourself about this? Oh, no, verse 33. Pardon me. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, are you speaking for yourself about this? Or did others tell you this concerning me?

Old Jewish way of being. Answer a question with a question. That's how it works. And Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief praised and delivered you to me. What have you done? And Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here. My kingdom is not from here right now. It's not in its fullness. I came to create a beachhead. I came to inaugurate it.

But understand, more will be coming. Not in your time, but in heaven's time, in my father's time. No man knows the day or the hour, but God. Pilate therefore said, are you a king then? And Jesus answered, you say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth, and everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Jesus said it right there. He came. This was his cause. He was sent to this earth to become the king of the earth, to become your king, to become my king, and to become our Lord in a way that other subjects of other kings have never been. Because what Jesus demands and expects and desires out of us is more than lip service, but heart service. And we'll get to that a little bit later.

How daring was this? Not only of Jesus, but his followers later on. Let's just think this through for a moment. Jesus did say yes. Okay. You named it. You got it. You're just a prefect. You're a governor over this portion of the Syrian prefect. Yeah, I came to be a king. How dangerous was it for him to call himself a king? How incredibly radical did the early followers of Jesus have to be? The early writers that we read today, and we see words like, Savior, or we see words like Lord, or we see this word king. What was going on? Allow me to give you some context here. We that are in America often know this phrase out of the old Western movies. Western movies, and that is simply this. This town, you got to get out of Dodge. That moose. This town isn't big enough for the two of us. So it's either me or you, or it's going to be a gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Now you know what I grew up watching.

That's exactly what happened here. Jesus came into the first century Roman world, Roman world. God does nothing by accident. There were two colliding forces that were occurring. There was the Gentile world, and there was the world of Judea. There was the world of the Hellomistic Romano world, and there was the world of Judea. There was the world where everybody basically had many, many gods, and there was this people over here that believed in the one true God. The only difficulty is you couldn't see him. You open up the veil, there was nothing there. That really confounded the minds of the Greeks and the Romans. But there's another issue that occurred here.

Let's understand that when Jesus declared that he was born to be a king, he was self-escribing to himself a death sentence. Because there was only one ruler. There was only one king in the Roman Empire. There was really only one Son of God. Allow me to share some thoughts out of N.T. Wright's book called Simply Jesus. That's the name of the book. It's under the sector of the Roman world. Basically, Wright shows that there was a perfect storm that developed. There was the Roman world coming from the West. There was the Jewish world that was planted in Judea. These were two people that were just like vinegar and oil. It just didn't match. Because God's time is perfect timing, it was ripe for him to send his Son to this earth. Christ came in the middle of what became a perfect storm. On one hand, the Romans could not have any other king or king God or king God priest other than Caesar. To the Jews, he was the wrong kind of king. He was the wrong kind of Messiah. He wasn't the one that they wanted to deliver them from the Gentiles. In the century that preceded Jesus, and this comes from N.T. Wright's book on simply Jesus and describing the Roman world.

Names that I'll throw out to you for a moment. We have Julius Caesar. We have Augustus Caesar. Julius Caesar had been a major Roman general, consul, who conquered Gaul. I think many of us are familiar with that, which is today's France. But then he came back down in Italy and was daring enough to take his army to cross the Rubicon. No army was to cross the Rubicon. All armies were to stay away from Rome, but he took his army and went over that river and went into Rome with his army. Some of you may be familiar with that story. But not only that, as he became dictator for life, he began to ascribe to himself certain aspects of being divine. His family began to be thought of actually having its origin from celestial beings. We know that Julius Caesar died on the Ides of March, stabbed to death in the Room of the Senate. His son then, his adopted son, I believe it was actually a grand nephew that he then adopted, was Octavian. Octavian took the name Augustus, which meant worthy of honor or majesty. Well, that is something that is Augustus. And then he also added the name Caesar. And so what you have here is you have Augustus, majestic, worthy, his own name Octavian, and then Caesar, son of the divine, a son of God, a God-man. If you were around the Roman Empire at that time, you know, we talk about being politically correct, whether you were in Syria or Egypt or in Achaia, or whether you were in what would then be Iberia over in Spain, the politically correct thing is, so who is the son of God? You would have smiled. Well, I know who that is. Think I'm dumb? It's Caesar.

Every, oftentimes, the Rome that could conquer the world could not conquer itself. And that was basically the history of Rome for 500 years. And so every time a Caesar came along, again, remember Augustus had just come off a major civil war with Mark Antony and Cleopatra, that every time a new Caesar came to the throne, that they would immediately say, I am the savior. I am the peace-bringer. Under me there will be unity.

And they would mint a coin with their image on it, to plant it into the mind of all of their subjects. Not only that, but Augustus also, the Caesar that was extant when Jesus was born, also took the title of Pontippus Maximus, which was the chief priest of the Roman religion. Now, stay with me. Here is a man that proclaimed himself Augustus Octavian Caesar, which basically underlined meant that he was a son of a god. But he was also the high priest, Pontippus Maximus, which is interesting how that's crept into another religion.

And then here comes this man who says, this Jew, I'm the son of God. I'm the son of God. I'm the son of God. And as we learn later, as we go through the book of Hebrews, we understand that he's also the holy, ultimate, high priest of God. There was a revolution that was occurring, and there is a revelation that was given to those that will understand it then and now. And not shrink back from that thought. You look at the early writers. You look at Matthew, who proclaimed Jesus' Savior from his birth. The wise men that came and gave him the gold from his birth. You look later on when you think of Peter speaking in Acts 5, talking about Jesus being Lord and Savior. Jesus, yes, indeed, King. But what kind of a king was he? And what kind of is the king to you and me that have had this revelation? And why did God send him? How important is it, brethren, for us to recognize that Jesus is Lord and Savior?

Our spiritual forefathers were willing to lay down their lives and die. Whether they be apostle, whether they be woman, whether it be a teen, whether it be a man, whether it be Jew or Gentile, slave or master. They died for that understanding that Jesus was not only the coming king of this world, but the Lord of their life. And we can effectively be a radical Christian rooted and grounded in what God is wanting us to understand unless we are on a daily basis, subject, subject, and laying down our life one moment and one day at a time of understanding that Jesus is Lord. He is Kurios. He is King. He is Lord. He is Soter. S-O-P-E-R. He is Savior. Not an earthly Caesar, not a human man, as it were, proclaiming his Godhead because of what he's conquered and taking everybody else's life, but because he laid down his life and because he laid down his life, he made a declaration of independence from the kingdoms of this world.

Let's understand something here. The good news of this day on July 4th is simply this.

Long live the King. And there's a reason why we can say that. Ephesians 1 verse 15. Join me if you would. Ephesians 1.15. Come with me. Let's go over there. Ephesians 1.15.

You say, well, Mr. Weber, that's Blake. He died. Is that good news? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because the rest of the story—and that's why you have to read the entire Bible and read the entire story and stay with the entire movie that God puts out on the real forest—we find over here in verse 15 of Ephesians 1. Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the King Jesus, the Master, the Lord, Kyrios Jesus, Jesus again coming from Yeshua, which means Savior, which means salvation. If we said this in Greek, we would say Kyrios Sadr. The early Christians knew what they were talking about and what they were getting into when they came out of the culture, when God disrupted and interrupted their life and said, I want you to be a subject of my kingdom now. And when Jesus said, follow me, and that's an ongoing invitation to each and every one of us, whether we're in Las Vegas, whether we are in Redlands, whether we are in San Diego, whether we are in Bakersfield, whether we are in Los Angeles, we follow our ruler. But what a ruler!

Do not cease to mention of you in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, they're tied together. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus the Christ, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance? Mr. Sharpe spoke on that several weeks ago. In the saints, in those that are holy, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according the working of his mighty power, which he, speaking of the Father, always look at those pronouns who's being spoken about, which the Father worked in Christ when the Father, he, raised him, Christ, from the dead, and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion. Not only in the physical world, when Paul was writing this with his background as a Jew, his teaching in Judaism, and how the audience would have taken it, this is not only speaking of the physical world that you and I can see out the door or bump into somebody or see somebody in a headline, but he was speaking of spiritual dominions, adversarial dominions, that which is evil, that which would thwart God's calling in us, that he's saying that Jesus, the Christ, the curiosoder, that every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, those same feet that had nails driven through them, that in a moment of agony, and while Julius Caesar could go and conquer Gaul, or while Alexander the Great could go and conquer Persia and take other people's lives, this king, our king, our lord, our shepherd, our friend, our elder brother, did this for you and for me. The camaraderie is incredible. Shakespeare once said that he just as scars that never felt the wounds. There is a common personality of understanding, and that's why the father sent Jesus to this earth, that he might become the spirit of experience, that in that truest sense, that God might be touched by man, but also that God might be likewise touched by man. Man touching God, God touching man. And Jesus, as the word emptied himself, came to this world. But do I dare say, it might be a high theological thought, I would suggest that when he went back up into heaven, as his father resurrected him, he took a component that he did not come down with. Experience. Humanity. And that's why his book in Hebrews says we can go before him whatever we are going through today and give it to God through him. Because he's right at the right hand of the father, he says, and he can explain what's going on down here with you and me. Can we talk? Are you hearing me? Do you understand that? Maybe you feel very lonely today, but you are not alone. We have people right now that are concerned about their loved ones. Can't see them.

We've had deaths over these last three or four months. God understands death. Jesus understands death up close and personal. Christ understands what it means to be lonely, but everybody forsook him. We have an incredible king. We have an incredible king. Long live the king. And we're going to find a verse here in a moment that tells us it is going to be corporate. And he has put all things verse 22 under his feet and given him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fits all in all. God has placed him over everything, and God continues to use him. We talked about interruptions and disruptions and revolutions. Join me if you want to Daniel 2.44. Jesus came at first, and he interrupted human society. And he created such a stir that they put him to sleep, they put him to death, in the name of peace and quietness, not to rouse things. But he's coming back. He inaugurated the kingdom of God in a way that nobody would ever think of.

It wasn't his will. It was his father's will that he was carrying on. But now notice Daniel 2.44, because he's going to continue to fulfill his father's will. Look at Daniel 2.44.

Daniel 2.44. And I know that Mr. Garner, I think last week, also spoke out of Daniel. Very fine message. I believe out of Daniel 7. But notice this. Talk about a disruption, an interruption. I've got some good news. This is Good News Day. This is Good News Sabbath. This is good news in the middle of a pandemic, good news in the middle of unemployment, good news in the middle of societal challenges and pressures and people coming at one another. Notice what it says here, if we could, in Daniel 2. And I'm picking up the thought. And let's go here to verse 34.

You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Now I want you to keep that thought a moment. A stone cut without hands. Stay with me. A stone cut without hands. And this is in the middle of interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. What's going on here? And he's saying that there is an answer to man's problems, to man's kingdoms that come and go and come and go. And somebody's lifted up as a god, somebody's lifted up as a god-human. And we put our confidence, we put our hopes and dreams in a man, whether it was a king of old or whether it's a president today. Every four years in America, we make this, oh, if only it'll be this man or it'll be this woman. Everything will be okay, everything will be all right, the republic will survive.

Everything that man ultimately touches does not turn into gold. Kingdoms come and kingdoms go.

That is as sure as the law of gravity, and what goes up must come down. And I say that I love America. My father, Jack, fought for America for three and a half years on an island over in the South Pacific. I've got my American flag up today, it's July 4th. But America rises, and it will fall. It's not because I want to see it fall, but because that's history in the role of man. But notice what's going to happen as history continues. Verse 44, And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people.

And it shall break in pieces, consume all of these things, and these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. And inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mount without hands, important, without hands, and that it broke in peace the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this, the dream of certain, and its interpretation is true. Brethren, I'm here to tell you on the authority of God's word and a revelation, and I presume that you are listening today because you do believe in your heart of hearts, and if not, we're going to go deeper here, that God the Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, the first time to proclaim the kingdom, and to begin to establish a following of those that believe that God the Father sent him as the answer to the prophecies of old, and that it would be a start. But now this begins the next stage, that an interruption of global proportion is going to occur in the future.

A stone is going to not be made with hands, but if you want to jot down a verse, Psalms 118 verse 22, and 1 Peter 3 through 4, that stone that is going to smash the kingdoms of this world, that will need to be smashed because of the evil that it's going to continue to be, is the stone that was disallowed, the stone that was rejected by Rome, and the stone that was rejected by his own people, and it's going to set up shop. And it is not going to be left to human beings. It's going to be left to somebody special. Jimmy, if you would, in Isaiah 11. In Isaiah 11.

You know, right now, America is just trying to decide day by day with everything going on, who's going to be president of the United States. You know, unfortunately, this is an apolitical comment. It's a historical comment, an analytical comment, is that basically, most elections down through the 200 odd years of American history is not who is best, but who will do the least harm. Who will do the least damage? So it's not always a choice between great and great, it's a choice of survival. And of course, my choice is better than your choice. Here's God's choice. Notice what it says. There shall come forth a rod, verse 1 from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

A godliness is not going to come and go like a yo-yo, it's going to be.

The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel.

The spirit of counsel. That's something that you say, then you have to take back. It's going to be wisdom and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. Who is this? It's Jesus Christ.

But with righteousness, he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. We're going to protect people. And righteousness, not political money, but righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waste.

You can be incredible. And this who God has appointed, God the Father has appointed Jesus Christ to be our Lord now in this kingdom that is developing. I want to share something with you. Are you with me? We talk about Daniel 2.44. We talk about the Feast of Trumpets. We talk about the return of Jesus Christ. But if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and your master, and as we say, your soon-coming King, you've handed over, you've said, you have vowed before God by the laying on of hands, when you say, yes, I do accept Jesus Christ as my Lord, my curios, my King, and my Savior, and my salvation. You're saying, Christ, Father, I'm ready for Christ to land in my heart and to rule my heart. I am your subject. I am no longer my own man. I am no longer my own woman. I am making a declaration of independence from the kingdoms of this world. I am free. And with God's help, with God's Spirit, with God's law as an anchor in my life, I have an opportunity for the first time in my life to be free of sin because of Jesus' righteousness that is imputed to me. You've called me to a new society, not the world around. I'm free from sin. I'm free from society. And I am pushing the idol of myself, this little God that I think at times is a big God, because they keep on doing what the little God is—well, I want to destroy that idol. So when you make that declaration of baptism, you're saying that a father and the son are now the rulers of your life through their spirit that is in you. And you are making a declaration of independence from this world from Satan itself and from society. And from society. Free at last, as Martin Luther King said on the National Mall, free at last, free at last, thank God. I am free at last.

But what are we free to do?

Join me if you would in Colossians for a moment. Colossians.

Remember that stone that was made without hands?

That stone that was made without hands? Let's take a look here, and let's pick up the thought here in verse 9.

Speaking of Jesus, the hymn. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, the God-man, Immanuel, God with us. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. In him you were also circumcised, notice, stay with me now, in this kingdom that has now come into our lives. As God the Father, in Christ by their spirit, Romans 8, 11-12, their spirit now resides on the mountain of our heart, in that temple space that they have created in there. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. Oh, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. The stone made without hands? Now there's a circumcision that is made without hands. By pulling off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, in which you were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead, just like it said in Ephesians. A new life, a new way of being, a new kingdom of being a part of. You know, if you want to jot this down in Philippians 3, verse 20, the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Philippians. Philippi was a Roman colony. It had a number of second and third generation Romans that, even though they lived in northern Greece, what we call northern Greece today, that even though they were surrounded by Greeks, they spoke Latin, they wore Roman, their allegiance was still to Rome, even though they were living in Philippi. Macedonia. And that's our calling as Christ is Lord, as he's Kurios, and he is Lord.

Not because he decided, it's because the Father appointed him. As I'm going to show you in a moment, to be our Lord and to be our King. There's an appointment. He didn't say, I'm going to go out and, you know, mirror mirror on the wall. I'm going to be the King over them all. No, he was appointed by his Father. We're going to get to that in a moment. While my flag is flying out here today as an American citizen, my ultimate citizenship, my ultimate focus, and this is the good news too, and the focus goes both ways. After all, Jesus said that his Father knows the sparrow that lights on the ground.

So, my citizenship, my ultimate allegiance is to the sovereignty of God Almighty and Jesus Christ as their Spirit lives in me and guides me. I've got an exciting scripture that I want to share with you. Join me if you would in Acts 17. We're going to pick this up real quickly. Acts 17. One of the great messages given in the Bible. I want to share this with you. Acts 17. Paul on Mars Hill speaking to a Hellenic group of philosophers and citizens of Athens. Speaking to that which is known as the Unknown God. Notice what it says. God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth. He is Lord. This earth is not going to get away from him, folks. He's got a plan. He's got a revelation and it's on his time schedule. Yes, things are happening down here right now, but he is sending that stone that was disallowed. That heavenly stone that is going to come and shatter the kingdoms of that which is man-made. God who made the world and everything in it God who made the world and everything in it since he is Lord of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are always one to God. Always one to God. Does not dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he worshipped with men's hands as though he needed anything since he gives to all life, breath, and all things. Now notice verse 26. And he is made from one blood of every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their pre-appointed times and boundaries of their dwellings so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grow for him and find him though he is not far from each and every one of us. For in him we live and move and having our being as some of your own poems have said we are also his offspring. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly these times of ignorance overlooked but now commands all men everywhere to repent. And because he now notices, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness, noticed by the man whom he has ordained, that's powerful. Our Heavenly Father, the ultimate omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, numero uno, being of all that is all, has done this, that he has appointed this man by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. I want to talk about the word all for a moment. That word is being used a lot these days. All. I want to talk about all. If you'll join me, please, for a moment. Notice verse 26. And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, in this time of social upheaval, to recognize that all of the children of God, whether they're white, whether they're black, whether they are brown, whatever color. We have one color that joins us together, not at the hip, but ought as subjects of the kingdom of God, join us at the heart. You see, what color is that? The color is red. Whether you're black, whether you're brown, whether you're white, we all have one color of blood, last time I noticed.

We're all red inside. But let's take it another step. Are you with me?

Somebody else gave his blood that we might live. And I would suggest that Jewish man that died on Gogotha, when he bled.

When he bled. This doesn't take rocket science. It was red. So all of us that are living, and red blood flowing through us, it is his red blood that was offered up for each and every one of us. To God the Father, when he sent his dear son to this earth, he was making a statement ahead of time with all the racial and ethnic animosity that was there. That all lives, all lives, are special. All lives, no matter our background, all lives of and by themselves go to the grave, apart from the greatest interruption and the greatest disruption that is yet to occur when that trumpet sounds, and all of those that are God's children in Christ.

Black, brown, white.

We are going to be so thrilled as the family of God, as we see all of our dear ones, no matter what background they come out in, going up and receiving that ultimate glorification. That only comes for the Father's calling.

Only comes because we've accepted the red blood of Jesus Christ of Master.

And not because of what we have done, no matter what our last name is, no matter the pigment of our skin, no matter what our body is, no matter what our blood is. No matter what our body is, no matter what our body is, no matter what our blood is.

I'm going to show you the scripture. Join me if you would in Isaiah.

We're almost done. Isaiah 19. I've got—who wants to know if I were with you—you know how I always do it. Who wants to hear good news today? So you can raise your hand if you want to, just for a moment. Go ahead if you want to, because I've got really good news. Isaiah 19.

In Isaiah 19, a picture of what the king of the wonderful world tomorrow is going to be governing over, and because of who he is and what he has done and his brotherhood to all humanity. This is the picture that God wants us to capture. He's talking about people that were enemies and were apart and how they're going to be brought together in Isaiah 19.

Verse 21, then the Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and will make sacrifice and offering, and yes, they will make a vow to the Lord and perform it in the name of the Lord. And the Lord will strike Egypt and he will strike and heal it. This time when God strikes, it's not always to destroy. He's going to strike it. And just like water came out, in that sense, water can come out of a rock, he's going to strike Egypt, but it's not going to be to its end. He's going to heal it. This is good news! And they will return to the Lord and he will be treated by them and heal them. Those that were a type of the tree of good and evil, they did so much right, but they were slave masters, put Israel in chains for hundreds of years. He's going to heal them and forgive them. And then, notice this, and in that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians, serving together the Brotherhood of Man. Brethren, this is great news, good news. We're not quite there yet. We know that. But this is what our King, long live the King. And may long live this vision be in each and every one of us, because it's only going to get tougher, brethren. It's only going to get more challenging as we've taken God out of our schools and God out of society and leaving man to itself. We've got to hold on to these promises and be radical, rooted, grounded, and have a vision so fixed in us, that vision of the millennium, that vision of eternity, that we have it tucked down in our hearts so deep, along with the King and the Lord of our life, that man can't get in there. Oh, he can deal with your outsides. He can come at you, but he cannot take that which is deep inside of us to recognize that we have a Savior, to recognize that we have a King, to recognize that there is a kingdom that is going to come that will be forever and not left to man. Oh, one more thing. Notice what it says then. And in that day, verse 24, Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, and going to be a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance.

You know, when you look at human history, if you've ever studied the history of Assyria, Egypt, and Israel, which is right in between two, kind of like Poland being between Germany and Russia, this would be the odd couple plus one. This is going to be a miracle of God. As it says in Ezekiel 36-25, he's going to give humanity a new spirit. He's going to give humanity a new mind, a new way of thinking. Oh, you know, he's going to put Jesus Christ and that spirit in them, and things are going to change. So what can we do about this? Let me conclude by saying this, please.

When we see this, what God has in store, this revelation, that beyond some of the tough times that are ahead, that he's going to bring humanity together. If he can bring together Assyria and Egypt and Israel, we need to be together now as a family of saints. No matter who our mother is, we have a Heavenly Father. We have a common Father, whether we're white, whether we're black, whether we're brown, whether we're of Asian background, in the body of Christ. And it is a body.

It's not three or four bodies, it's a body. And we all have that seed of eternity through the spirit that is in us. And we must not go down the path of this world of division, but that the unity that comes in Christ by recognizing what he did for us, that he gave that red blood, willingly offering it to each and every one of us.

That is radical. That is what is what will ground us. If you want to keep on being scared and depressed, just look at all the headlines down below. But if you want to read about the big headlines, you open up the Word of God. You look at the promises of God. His timing is perfect, His timing is right. I know we'd like to have Him come as like yesterday, but Father knows best. I want to leave you with one thought, to radicalize you, to found you. So often, I know a number of us go over this, but I want to read this to you. This is our hope. This is where our eye has got to be beyond what is happening in America and the world today, that a new world is coming. And it's going to be so incredible that you don't want to give up on this. We can only read so much about it. We can think about it. We can get dogmatic about it, kind of make God's plans for him when he hasn't spelled it all out. But you know, He gives us this picture in Revelation 21. I just want to end with this as to radicalize, to ground, to develop that root down deep inside of us, that no man can take it away. No woman can take it away, including yourself.

Revelation 21. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. God's always looked at heaven and earth as one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus himself said, thy will be done on heaven and on earth. And here we find it again. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no more sea, there was no more buffer, there was no more distance, there was no more gulf between God and man, and man and man, and nation and nation, and people and people. All things are now passed. And there's oneness. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, ordained for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, good news! Oh, I'm adding that. Good news! Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Oh, my, my, my, this is up close and personal. This is touchy-feely! Great! Think about that. And he said this, and there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crime. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. It's over! Behold, I make all things new. And this is fulfillment. Then he who sat, said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, right for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. Dear friends, on this day of declaration, let us be so thankful, let us be so grateful of God's grace and love and mercy. On this day of liberty, of Sabbath, of rest, that it sends points to this time of ultimate rest before our Father in Christ. Let us rejoice. And not only for an hour here, but every day of our life. Allow us to proclaim not by word, but by action, by deed, and by motive. Long live the King. Long live the King. Long live the King. Now and forever.

May God bless you. May God keep you. And look forward to seeing some of you.