FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Jesus' Rule, Return & Reign | Hebrews 1:3
Have you ever wondered what Jesus is doing right now? Has it been 2,000 years since He ascended to heaven—did He go there to rest, retire, or wait? In this powerful conclusion to the six-month "Made for More" series, we discover the life-changing truth that Jesus didn't go to heaven to rest, but to rule.
Right now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father—the ultimate position of authority. Everything in your life is under His submission and permission. He's actively pouring out His Holy Spirit upon you, because He knows you can't fulfill His mission alone. Most comfortingly, Jesus is literally praying for you. The Son of God is taking your requests to God the Father! He's also building His church through ordinary people and continuing to save sinners. His work isn't done, and neither is yours.
This understanding transforms our purpose. Since Jesus is ruling, we trust Him. Since He's pouring out His Spirit, we receive His power. Since He's praying for us, we pray to Him. Since He's building His church, we invite people to experience it. And since He's saving people, we share the good news.
Jesus will return suddenly and finally, but He's patiently waiting for the last person to be saved according to His will. His delay isn't reason to doubt but evidence of His love—giving more people time to turn to Him. When He returns, He'll wipe away every tear and make all things new. Surprisingly, believers won't just worship Him eternally but will also reign with Him forever. Heaven isn't just an eternal choir practice; it's living life the way God always intended—without pain, hate, division, or sin.
You live differently when you know the end of the story. Since we know Jesus ultimately wins, we can continue moving the gospel forward with confidence today. Remember: if you're not dead, He's not done. This is no time for the church to go on break—the mission continues through you!
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Well, good morning how you doing, first Baptist, powder Springs. Put your hands together if you're excited to be in church this morning. God is so good, it's so good to see everybody, all of your smiling faces. If you're a first-time guest, we just want to give you a special welcome, a special thank you for being with us today, out of all of the places that you could be. Just a reminder, if you are new, we are one church here at First Baptist Church, powder Springs. We're one church here at First Baptist Church Powder Springs. We're one church. We meet in two services. We have a 9.30 service, we have an 11 service. But we have one vision, one goal, one strategy, one mission, and that is to bring glory to Jesus so that we can reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we just want to say thank you for being a part of it. Also.
Speaker 1:Even just last week, my wife and I, we were in our family. We were not in church for the first time. We were not here since last September, and so we just kind of took the day off and Pastor James preached, didn't he do a great job? Put your hands together for Pastor James Wilson, super thankful for him, and man. He just always does such a wonderful job. We got to watch both services online and we just we had a little family staycation together, but we missed you so much. It's always good to be back home. It's always good to be back with family and just to talk about family for a second. We know that we lost a church family member this past week.
Speaker 1:Friday morning about 5.30 in the morning, whitney, alan and Karen Davis's daughter, whitney Davis, mulholland, went home to be with Jesus after her seven-year journey through cancer. Just this morning, alan and Karen texted me and they wanted to share some words with you. They said tell everyone we love and appreciate the unbelievable support that we have received, not just the last few weeks but the entire seven-year journey that Whitney was on. They said we just need a little bit more time to recharge emotionally, to get some rest. And here's what they said. As Whitney said at one of her lowest points, while we were helping her to get back in the bed, whitney said God is good. Can we just put our hands together and thank God for Whitney, thank God for the Davis family? What an honor it is to know that she is with Jesus.
Speaker 1:I wanna pray for them, but before I do, I just wanna recognize all of you parents that are in here that you're gonna have kids during KVX this week here with us. We just want you to know that we can't wait to have your kids so that we can pour the word of God into your kids, so that we can point them to Jesus, so that they can worship him with their life. So we just wanna say thank, thank you, and we want to recognize all of our KVX volunteers here in this room. So maybe you're volunteering this week and maybe you're a teacher, maybe you're a worship leader, maybe you're in crafts, maybe you're in everybody's favorite time snack time, maybe you're in rec and you're in games, or maybe you have been helping with the setup or you're going to help with the cleanup. Whoever you are, if you're serving in some way for KVX, would you mind standing up right now and we just want to honor you. Can we put our hands together for them right now? Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you do, thank you for this week. Stay standing, stay standing. I just want to pray for you. Can everyone just kind of extend a hand towards someone right now, just saying that you're gonna be praying for them. Can we do that? Let's pray, heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:God, we pray for KVX KidVenture Extreme this week, our Vacation Bible School. And, lord, we just pray, god, that, as your word says, that you would pour your spirit into the next generation to love your word, to follow your son, to build your church. And, god, we pray for kids to get saved, for kids to be encouraged to live saved, for them to be sanctified, to live for Jesus, for kids to make decisions, who need to be baptized. And God, we just pray, lord, as this is the future generation, lord, that is gonna be taking the gospel to the nations. Lord, we pray that you would do a work this week that can never be undone. We love you and God, we pray for Alan. We pray for Karen Davis, god, we pray for Mason. Lord, we pray this morning for Joel and for Jordan and the whole family. And, God, we pray that you would just comfort them, god, that you would give them your peace. And, father, we ask, in Jesus' name, lord, that you would give them your peace. And, father, we ask, in Jesus' name, lord, that you would just continue to wrap your loving arms around them and use your church that they may feel your love. In Jesus' name, we pray and all God's people said amen. You can open up your Bibles with me this morning to Hebrews, chapter one. Hebrews, chapter one, and I believe that God has a word for you this morning. He would not bring you here if he did not want to encourage you, if he did not want to empower you.
Speaker 1:I think about one of the best basketball players who has ever lived, who has ever played the game. He's no longer with us Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant died on January 26th of 2020, almost five and a half years ago now, if you can believe it and it was the night before that Kobe actually tweeted out his last tweet before he died. It was January 25th of 2020. The reason we remember that? Because that was the night that LeBron James passed Kobe on the all-time scoring list. And what did Kobe Bryant's tweet say? Kobe Bryant's tweet notice. He didn't throw. He didn't talk trash. He wasn't being a smart aleck. He wasn't being sarcastic. He wasn't throwing him under the bus. Kobe simply said his last tweet to ever tweet. He said continuing to move the game forward. King James, much respect my brother.
Speaker 1:Now here's what I love about that is that for Kobe, the game of basketball was not about him. For Kobe, the game of basketball was not about his records. It wasn't about his stats. It wasn't about his fame. It wasn't about his fame. It wasn't about him staying on top. For Kobe, the game of basketball was about those who would come after him to continue to move the game forward. Everybody say forward In the same way. What a reminder for us that your life, that my life, is not about us. Our life is about continuing to move the gospel forward into more lives so that more people can come to know Jesus. If you believe that, say yeah. That is literally the reason that God made you. He made you for more. Now, this is our last message in this six-week series Made for More. Not only is this our last message in this six-week series. This is our last message in this six-month mega series. Can you believe it?
Speaker 1:We have been in this doctrine of Jesus, or all about Jesus now we've been talking about for the last six months. We began in December and in December we started talking about Jesus. But this morning, I want you to know that you weren't made for yourself and your mission. You were made for Jesus and his mission. This is where we came from. In December, we talked about before all things, we talked about that Jesus, he's fully God, so he existed all the way into eternity past and we led up that journey of Jesus all the way up into his incarnational birth.
Speaker 1:In January, we talked about Jesus's earthly life and ministry. We talked about how Jesus lived. In February, we talked about red letters, or all of his sayings, all of his teachings, what Jesus said. In March, we talked about his miracles, what Jesus did, or how Jesus helps people. We see his power. And then in April, we saw the passion of Jesus. We talked about his suffering, his death, his burial, his resurrection and through May and ending here, june 1, we're talking about the mission of Jesus.
Speaker 1:And here's what I want us to see. I don't know about you, but this has been one of the most spiritually impacting six months of my life. Six months of my life just focusing on Jesus and studying Jesus and worshiping Jesus and going on this journey together, all about Jesus. And what I want us to see is that everything in his life, all the way from his eternal existence in the past to his eternal existence in the future, all the way through his earthly life and ministry, everything that he said and everything that he did, that it all leads up to this. It all leads up to what he's called us to do today the mission of Jesus. That we are called to continue to move the gospel forward into more people's lives. That we're not called to rest, we're not called to take a break. We are called on a mission. Everybody say mission. So what we've been doing every sermon through this series, we're gonna do it one last time. I'm gonna ask you to stand up this morning, we all stand together just for one second, and I just want us all to read this together, in unison. This is the great commission of Jesus, some of the last words of Jesus, what he left for us before he left for heaven. Read with me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father. You can have a seat right now, this morning, as we talk about all about Jesus how you weren't made for yourself and your mission. You were made for Jesus and his mission. This morning, I want to talk about three powerful things that we must understand before we wrap up this mega series about Jesus. Put a bow on it.
Speaker 1:A question I want to answer this morning is what is Jesus doing now, because he ascended to heaven 2,000 years ago. What's he been doing for 2,000 years? What's he doing today and what's he going to continue to do, and when is it that Jesus is going to return? This morning I'm going to tell you exactly when Jesus is coming back. And then number three, number three, we're going to talk about Jesus' eternal reign. What will Jesus be doing forever? And so, therefore, what will we be doing forever in heaven? Here we go. Number one Jesus's present rule. Everyone say rule. So the question I wanna answer is and you can open to Hebrews 1,. The question I wanna answer is is what is Jesus doing today? What did Jesus do when he ascended to heaven some 2,000 years ago? Did he go up to heaven to rest? Did he go up to heaven to wait? Did he go up to heaven to retire? Did he go up to heaven to play an eternal match of golf game until we come up and join him? Like, what is Jesus doing?
Speaker 1:I heard a story one day that said that a pastor woke up one morning and he didn't feel. One Sunday morning, he didn't feel like preaching, and so he called and he said hey, I'm not coming to church this morning. He lied. He said I'm sick. They said all right, we got you. And so the pastor hung up the phone, went and put his clothes on, got his golf clubs and went out and played a round of golf. And up in heaven, st Peter looked at Jesus, said Jesus, what are you gonna do about it? This pastor just lied to his church to play golf and Jesus said don't worry, I got it.
Speaker 1:Pastor steps up to the first hole, hits it long and straight all the way to the green, bounces on the green, goes into the hole. Very first hole, a hole in one. Peter looks at Jesus like what are you doing? Jesus said don't worry, I got it. Jesus said don't worry, I got it. Hole two, hole in one. Hole three, hole in one, all 18 holes. He scored a perfect 18 on his golf game. And Peter looked at Jesus and he said I thought you got it. Jesus said I got it, I got it.
Speaker 1:Who's he gonna tell he lied he didn't go to church, right, I got it, I got it. So what is Jesus doing, right? The Bible says. Here's what he says. If we wanna understand what Jesus is doing Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God, the Father, for you. What is Jesus doing right now?
Speaker 1:Hebrews 1.3 says after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. I want you to notice that Jesus did not sit down to rest, jesus sat down to rule. Everyone say rule when Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. That is only the place that the Son of God can sit, that is only the place that the King of the universe can sit. He didn't sit to rest, he sat to rule.
Speaker 1:And even when it looks like in your life that not everything is in submission to him personally, I want you to remember that the Bible says that he has the ultimate authority, he has the ultimate call, that everything is under his submission, powerfully, that he is the power over absolutely everyone. He is the power over everything. What you are going through in your life is not without his permission, is not without the way that he is going to work and the way that he is going to use it for his glory and for your good. So how do we respond? We trust him, we trust him, we obey him. We trust him, we obey him, we worship him, we serve him. We live on mission for him.
Speaker 1:Not only is he sitting at the right hand of the Father the Bible says that he is Jesus is pouring out his Holy Spirit upon you Acts 2.33,. You ever noticed this before, that it was Jesus who pours out the Spirit, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured him out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. What is Jesus doing for you right now? Right here, right now, jesus is continuing to pour his Holy Spirit upon you. He's continuing to pour his Holy Spirit within you. Why? Because he understands what you're going through and that you can't go through it alone. He understands what you're going through and that you don't have the power in yourself in order to be able to go through it, but instead he gives you God inside you, god within you, so that you can accomplish his will that he's called you to do. That would be impossible without him inside of you.
Speaker 1:If you know it's Jesus, when he left, he didn't just tell us hey, you're gonna be living now in a dark and depraved and in a dying world and, by the way, they killed me. So good luck to you. No, jesus said I'm gonna be with you, I'm gonna empower you, I'm gonna fill you with my Holy Spirit. Jesus also said you ever thought about the love of Jesus in this way? Jesus also said that he is praying for you. Hebrews 7, 25,. Who is to condemn? You feel condemned in your life. You ever feel like the people are against you. The world is not for you. Everything's working against you. Jesus said who is to condemn you? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, he's the one who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who, indeed, is interceding for us, which means that he is praying for you.
Speaker 1:I think it's so important, when you are going through difficult, hard times, that you call up other brothers and sisters, believers in Jesus Christ. You text them, you call them, you email them, you tell them when you see them and you just say would you please be praying for me, but also you be praying for them. But the most important person that you can know for sure who's praying for you is Jesus himself. The Bible says that he is interceding for you. He is going to the Father on your behalf. The Bible even says that the Holy Spirit is taking your prayers and interpreting them to God, and he is praying more for you than you could even pray or anybody else could pray for yourself. God is praying for you to God, can I get an amen? And so, because God is praying to God for you, then what are we called to do? We can just simply say, when we don't know what to say, we can simply say Jesus, would you just pray for me? Jesus, would you just pray for me? Also, what else is Jesus doing? He is building his church through you. He's called you to be his witness and he would not call you to do anything if he did not empower you for that task. He is building his church through you.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 16, 18,. I will build my church in the gates of hell, jesus said. Shall not prevail against it. What does it mean that Jesus is building his church? It means that Jesus is growing his family. It means that we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and God is all of our heavenly father. And so when we're inviting people to believe in Jesus, when we're inviting people to church so they can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is our way of introducing them to Jesus so that they can be involved, so that they can be introduced, so that they can be invited into the family of God. We're not just trying to build a mega church. That is not our goal, that's not our desire, we don't care. We just want to build a missional church that reaches people, that they can believe in Jesus too.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen? Why? Because Jesus is saving sinners just like you and just like me. 2 Peter 3.9 says the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. In other words, who is it that you are praying for to get saved? Who is it that you are witnessing to sharing the gospel with dropping the name of Jesus? To? Who is that one person that, if you could give everything for them to give their life to Jesus, you would give it, because they are so important to you and you just want them to know Jesus personally, to believe in his death and his resurrection, to be saved, to be forgiven of all of their sin. Jesus is continuing to save sinners today. His work is not done. If you're not dead, he's not done. Can I get an amen? What did Jesus tell us to do? Because he's working, because he's ruling, jesus called us to go.
Speaker 1:Everybody say go. Our little boy, cruz, two and a half years old I think his first word was mommy. His second word was daddy. His third, fourth and fifth word was ready set, go. That's all he wanted to say. Ready set, go all the time. Our little girl Eliana she's one year old and she's learning how to walk. She's like Frankenstein all the time, right now, right, keeping her hands out. She's walking and she's starting to talk and we say ready, set and she says go. She sounds like a middle school cheerleader from Mississippi. She really does Go go. It's so cute and we're raising up a country girl. You know what I'm saying. And, man, it was just awesome.
Speaker 1:I remember being five years old. I got a picture of this. I was five years old with my dad, man and I was running a race with my dad, right. And I love this picture because, man, I took this race seriously. I think it was a 10K that morning that everybody, all the adults, went and ran, but after that race was a one-mile fun run that all the kids would run with their parents, and I thought it was the real race. Like, I pulled my socks, as you can tell, all the way up to my knees. I pulled my shorts all the way up to my chest right. I got my headband on so it'd keep my floppy bangs out of my eyes and I got my Coke bottle glasses on so I could see where I'm going. And, man, I was so excited.
Speaker 1:I remember that fun run. The gun went off and me and my dad, we started running. Now, my dad, he trained me For months and months. We would run together and there was always a time in our run that my dad would say go. And whenever he told me to go, he wanted me to sprint and to go as fast as I could. He wanted me to sprint and to go as fast as I could. And so here we are. We're just running, we're just jogging on this fun run, and it was at the end of that race and all these people are there and what I didn't know was the last part of the race was in a stadium where everybody who had finished the run and had come for the run they're all sitting in the stands. And it was the very last of that one mile fun run. We enter into the stadium and my dad says go, Chip, go. And I start sprinting as hard as I could. I remember I was sprinting through all of these adults, all these kids. I saved all my energy for the end. The crowd started cheering I don't think it was for me, but I would imagine that it was and so everybody started cheering and I ran as fast as I could, trying to win the race as quickly as I could.
Speaker 1:And what a reminder that our father, his son, jesus Christ, has told us to go and he's given us the power to go. Here's the deal. We don't know exactly when Jesus is coming back, but we know that he is coming back. And this is our opportunity, this is our time, this is our moment to move the gospel forward and to go. Everybody say go. What is Jesus doing right now? He's sitting. So what should we be doing right now? Trusting him. Jesus is ruling right now. So what should we be doing? Obeying him? Jesus is pouring out his Holy Spirit right now. So what should we be doing? Receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus is praying for you right now. So what should you be doing? Receiving the Holy Spirit? Jesus is praying for you right now. So what should you be doing? Praying to him. Jesus is building his church right now. So what should we be doing? Inviting people to church, and Jesus is saving people right now. So what should we be doing? Going to people and sharing the gospel. If you believe that, say amen, here we go.
Speaker 1:Number two, number two Jesus' future return, jesus', future return. I'm gonna tell you exactly when Jesus is coming back. Here we go, here we go. First of all, I want you to know that Jesus' return will be sudden to you. Everyone say sudden. It'll be sudden. The Bible says 1 Thessalonians 4, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and after that we who are still alive in our left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Never forget how relational this is. Jesus can't wait to come back for you.
Speaker 1:One thing I love doing every single day when I go to work, when I come here to the office, is, right about 5.30 that I return. I get home to my kids. I can't wait to see my kids. I can't wait to see my kids. I can't wait to see my wife. My kids are rejoicing, my wife is relieved, right, I mean they just. Daddy has come home, she's got the help that she needs, right. And just our little boy, cruz, two and a half. He runs up to the door and he'll just press his nose in the glass and just saying daddy, daddy, daddy. Through the glass I see Eliana, she'll Frankenstein at first, and then she'll start crawling to the door. Our little girl, brooklyn, six years old, cerebral palsy. She will walk her best on her knees, just like the other kids, just to get up the door. I can barely get the door open and I come in. They're screaming daddy, they're happy to see me, I'm happy to see them.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine how Jesus can't wait to see you? He can't wait to return for you, in the same way that you can't wait for him to return for you, that you can't wait to see him, your Lord and Savior. He says that we're gonna be able to meet him in the air and we're gonna be able to be with him forever. But it's gonna be sudden. The Bible says not only will it be sudden. The Bible says that it will be final. Everyone say final.
Speaker 1:Second Thessalonians says that Jesus comes back to grant relief to you who are afflicted, which means if you're a believer, if you're a Christian, your life is hard. It's hard to live in this world. We already know that. The Bible has said that it's not going to get easy. It's not meant to be easy. We're going against the grain, we're swimming upstream, we're living in a world of darkness. He's going to grant relief to us, which means this world, this earth, is the closest to hell you're ever going to get.
Speaker 1:But the Bible says when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is some of the hardest words to preach. No pastor should ever shout down the mountain at a lost person, because without Jesus saving us of our sins, we'd be lost too. All I can tell you is, if you haven't given your life to Jesus yet, when he returns, your eternity will be fixed. When he returns, it will be too late. And do not wait until it is too late, because eternity is too long to be wrong. How do you know if you're saved? He says right here in two ways. You know who you're saved. He will grant relief to those who know God, personal relationship with God, those who are obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ, those who are repenting of their sin, those who are believing in him, those who are following him, not in perfection but in direction, those that have given their life to Jesus, calling on him as Lord. We are not perfect people. We're just forgiven people.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says that Jesus' return will be final. And the Bible says that Jesus' return is waiting for you. Everyone say waiting, waiting for you. When is Jesus going to come back? When the last person of his will get saved? Jesus is waiting for that last person to get saved according to his will. And the Bible says in 2 Peter, chapter 3, verses 4 and 9,. They will say where is this coming he promised? There are unbelievers out there. There are people that have not given their life to Jesus. That says well, he's never come back. It's been over 2,000 years, he hasn't come back. Why would I believe in a God who isn't coming back? Could I submit to you that Jesus not coming back yet is not a reason to not believe. It's actually the reason to believe because he is patiently waiting on you to give your life to him. Can I get an amen? Where is this coming that? He promised the Lord? He's not slow in keeping his promise. Jesus isn't slow, he's patient. He's not slow with you, he's patient with you. He's patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Speaker 1:I remember, uh, when, when we were living in virginia, my wife and I, before we had kids, uh, we were in virginia. It was a February day. It's cold in February in Virginia. It strangely warmed up one day to about 70 degrees. We had this brilliant idea to go to the ice cream store, not just any ice cream store, cold Stone Creamery, can I get an amen? And some of the best ice cream out there. And we went into Cold Stone Creamery, but we found out we did not. We were not the only ones with the idea. We were not the only ones with the idea, like half of Virginia were in there too, and so, but Cold Stone Creamery, they weren't ready. There was only two girls in the entire store and it was packed. You remember that, babe. It was slammed packed and so we got our ice cream. We sat down and it was so full and there was a line going out the door.
Speaker 1:Literally, people are in line, people are eating ice cream, people are still parking, people are still coming in, they're waiting outside, and the girls say that's it, we're going on break. They go and lock the doors and they go on break. That's how you know they don't own the place. They go on break and we're sitting there eating our ice cream and we're watching this. Like people are outside. They drove all that way. They're starting to shake the glass doors, pounding on the door. It says you're open, open the door. And the girls were like we're not coming out right, kind of a deal. And so we're sitting there watching the thing like this. We're about to be on the news, this is awesome. Like we're going to be in the papers. We hope we live to see through this thing. And someone stands up. I can't remember who it was. Someone stood up and they walked to the doors and they unlocked the doors and let everybody in, and so we don't know what happened, because we left. We did not want any part of that.
Speaker 1:Can I just remind you that there are still people outside the kingdom of God, and this is no time for the church to go on break. This is no time for the church to stop working. This is no time for the church to stop going. This is no time for the church to stop witnessing. Jesus is coming back and his return is sudden, and so we've gotta be ready. His return is final, so we've gotta be saved. His return is waiting, so we need to be witnessing.
Speaker 1:And number three, and I'm done Jesus' eternal reign. Everyone say reign, jesus' eternal reign. Did you know that his reign is very personal to you, very personal to you? Revelation 21, verse three, says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, in other words, and the presence of God will be with you. God cannot wait to have you in your presence and he cannot wait for you to be in his presence In everything that you're longing for, in everything that you desire, in everything that you want. Every satisfied need that you are praying for, that you're desiring for, is going to be answered in that moment when you are in the presence of God. And it says that he will wipe away every tear from their eyes everything that has hurt you, everything that has brought fear, everything that has brought pain, everything that has brought discomfort, everything that has brought torment, everything that has brought anguish on your life. The Bible says that Jesus personally wipes. He will wipe away your tears from your eyes and he who is seated on the throne says behold, I'm making all things new, which means that Jesus has something new. Jesus has something for you that, if he told you, you wouldn't even believe it. Not only is it personal to you, but Jesus's reign is worshipful through you.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in Revelation 5, I heard every creature in heaven, on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. You are going to get to be in his presence and you are not going to be able to help, but to worship all of him with all of you. You are going to lift your voice, you are going to lift your hands, you are going to exclaim and you are going to proclaim and you're gonna pour your soul out and you're gonna worship your heart out because you finally get to be in front of the one who gave his life for you and you get to give it all to him because he gave it all to you. Can I get an amen? He gave it all to you and you're gonna get to give it all to him because he gave it all to you. Can I get an amen? He gave it all to you and you're going to get to worship him forever.
Speaker 1:But that's not all, like the infomercial says. But that's not all. There's more. That's not all. I rarely hear anybody preach on this. Jesus loves you so much.
Speaker 1:The Bible doesn't just say that he's gonna reign over you. The Bible says that he's gonna reign with you. I want you to see here, because this is so important, that his reign is shared with you. Revelation 22. And night will be no more and they will need no light, of lamp or sun, for the Lord, god, will be their light and they and you will reign forever and ever.
Speaker 1:We don't know exactly what this means. I think, whatever this is, it's so good that even if God tried to explain it to me and to you, we couldn't even understand it in our finite minds because of what he is going to be giving to us and sharing with us. But here's what we know that eternal life is not gonna just be an eternal choir practice where we just stand there and sing to Jesus forever and ever and ever, without ending. And we just stand there and sing and we, just, when Jesus is looking, we look at our watches, thinking how long is eternity again? No, the Bible seems to say that while we are worshiping Jesus, forever, and that's enough that he shares his rule and his reign with us, meaning that eternal life is going to look like this life, just perfected and glorified and magnified to where there's no more pain, it's only joy, where there's no more hate, there's no more division, more hate, there's no more division, there's no more racism, there's no more crime. It's love, it's comfort, it's safety. The Bible seems to say, obviously, there's no more sin, so there's no more pride, there's no more selfishness. And so what are we doing? We're serving Jesus, we're serving one another and we're living life the way that God meant it to be lived, and we will finally get to live fully for Jesus Christ, sin free. What you long for, what I long for? Jesus loves you so much that he's even sharing his reign with you.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you ever missed one of your favorite ball games. Maybe your favorite sports team was playing and you were on a flight or on a ride, or maybe it was before the internet back in the day and you had to watch it back. You know through TiVo or today, youtube TV or whatever it is, but you already saw the score on SportsCenter or you saw it in the newspaper back in the day. You already know you won, but you missed the game and you wanted to go back and watch it. And so you go back and watch it and you know your team won. And as you're watching the game, oh, your team fumbles, but everything's okay because you know your team won. Your quarterback threw an interception, that's okay, we know the team won. I just want to see how we win. Your team made it to the goal line but didn't get in, that's okay. And then you watch the entire game, in every touchdown, in every defensive stop, and you watch your team win. You watch it differently when you know the end. Can I submit to you this morning you live your life differently when you know the end. You live your life differently when you know the end. You live your life differently when you know the end.
Speaker 1:What are we here to do? We're here to continue the gospel forward so that more people can know Jesus Christ, just like you. Every head bowed and every eye closed. Every head bowed, every eye closed. Who is it that God is laying on your heart, that God is putting in your mind? That name that's coming to mind, that face that's coming to mind, those people that are coming to mind, that face that's coming to mind, those people that are coming to mind. God has put you in their life to share Jesus with them. God has put the Holy Spirit in you to share Jesus with him. We're not responsible for the outcome. We're just responsible for the mission that Jesus has shared with us. And I wanna encourage you to obey him, to serve him and to follow him.
Speaker 1:And you may be thinking right here, right now. You may be thinking I can't do that, pastor, jim. I can't do it Because I'm not ready yet. I haven't given my life to Jesus yet, but I want you to know that you can. He'll take you right here, right now. He created you, he died for you, he rose from the dead, he's calling you, he's told you in his scripture that he's patiently waiting for you, he loves you.
Speaker 1:So, right here, right now, you can just tell him in your own words, in your own prayer, in your own heart, you can say just dear Jesus, I love you. Words in your own prayer, in your own heart, you can say just dear Jesus, I love you, I believe in you and I need you. You can tell him I believe, jesus, that you died on the cross for my sin and I'm asking you to forgive me of all my sin, past, present and future sin. You can tell him, jesus, I believe that you rose from the dead, you're alive. So I wanna turn from my sin. And I wanna turn and I wanna live my life for you, not in perfection but in direction. I wanna follow you for all of my life.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, right here, right now. Confess Jesus is Lord, believe in him, and this is the moment of your salvation. He will save you, right here, right now. Heavenly Father, we thank you for that. We believe that we pray that in Jesus' name. And all God's people said would you put your hands together right now for anybody that made that decision, that prayed that prayer, gave their life to Jesus.
Speaker 1:We just wanna say welcome to the family. What an honor it is to be your brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. We're here to help you. We're here to walk alongside you. We are not perfect, just like you. We're just all following Jesus together. I wanna ask us all to stand up, as we're gonna sing to him, and let's sing to him like he is the one who's ruling. Let him, and let's sing to him like he is the one who's ruling. Let's sing to him like he is the one who's returning. Let's sing to him like he is the one who is reigning. He is so good and he receives our worship and we don't have to wait to heaven to worship him. You get to worship him right here, right now, today. He loves it. When you worship him, you give it all to him right now.