Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:07] Well, good morning, everyone.
[00:00:11] As PK said, it's my first time preaching at World Changers. Definitely not the first time I've done this, but first time here.
[00:00:18] So my wife and I, we joined this church must be about 18 months ago now. We had just gotten married, and we thought, you know, let's check out this place. And we've been here ever since, never looked back.
[00:00:31] So that's good.
[00:00:33] But you might have seen, my wife and I, we've been up here before, and we're expecting our first child in December.
[00:00:44] So it's a very exciting time for us.
[00:00:47] But you've seen us up here. You know that we're both creatives. Now, who among you out there would not consider yourself a creative, but lives with one?
[00:00:57] It's wild. Living with creatives is wild. Imagine living with a creative. When you are a creative, but you're not the same kind of creative, that's something else.
[00:01:07] But as a creative, I have a very simple message to bring today. But as a creative, I had to do it creatively. It's not enough to do it simply.
[00:01:15] Right? So, without further ado, my title for today's message is the Jesus Problem.
[00:01:26] Now, if that makes you go, excuse me, there's no problem with Jesus, well, it's okay, I agree with you. Okay? So let's just first of all get that out of the way, as I agree with you, Jesus is not a problem. But if I were to say that to a bunch of unbelievers, let's say this was a TED talk with 300 unbelievers. How many of you know that? Chances are most of them would say, yeah, there is a Jesus problem.
[00:01:47] Yeah. So we're going to explore what this is, why it's a problem. But this is not a TED Talk, okay? So I'm not just going to be talking at you, trying to convince you of an argument. This is going to be a preach. I'm just going to surround it. Surround it with those two questions. What is the Jesus problem? And why is it a problem?
[00:02:07] So we're going to look at our first scripture, First Peter, chapter two, and it's verses six, seven, and eight. We'll start from verse six.
[00:02:17] As the Scriptures say, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor.
[00:02:23] Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. Now, this is talking about Jesus, just for context.
[00:02:29] Verse 7.
[00:02:31] This precious value then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve the stone which the builders rejected. This became the very cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.
[00:02:47] For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word.
[00:02:50] Just let that sit there for a second.
[00:02:54] Today I'm talking about Jesus being the Cornerstone.
[00:02:58] Now verse 7 says, for us who believe he is the cornerstone, but for those who disbelieve, what is he? Verse 8. He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence in a nutshell. And we're going to explore it more. In a nutshell. That's the Jesus problem.
[00:03:19] It's for us who believe he is the cornerstone, but for those who disbelieve, he's a stumbling block and a rock of offence. How many people do you know who are offended at Jesus?
[00:03:30] Glad I'm not the only one.
[00:03:34] So I'm not a builder and I know we have builders in the room, but I had to look into what a cornerstone does and I feel like a cornerstone is much more like an olden day thing, not really modern, but I could be wrong. Again, I said I'm not a builder. But I did do some research into the importance of a cornerstone. And a cornerstone is important for three reasons. It provides a solid foundation for the rest of the building.
[00:04:00] It provides stability to the building, but it also provides alignment to the building. Because if your cornerstone is not straight, your whole wall is going to be thrown out. Yeah, I see lots of nods. Thank the Lord I read that correctly and Dr. Google didn't lie to me for a change.
[00:04:16] So as Jesus is our cornerstone for us who believe, what does he provide? He provides a firm foundation, stability to our faith and alignment for the rest of our lives.
[00:04:27] Someone say Amen, please.
[00:04:31] But for those who disbelieve, he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.
[00:04:41] So why do people stumble over Jesus? Why are people offended at Jesus? I have three reasons and there's definitely a whole lot more. But I believe that these three account for a lot of things.
[00:04:55] The first reason, people stumble over Jesus. And by the way, when I say that people stumble over Jesus, I don't mean that he makes them stumble. Morally, Jesus will never tempt you to sin. He will never cause you to sin. All right, that's in James 1:13.
[00:05:09] But people stumble over Jesus when they disbelieve. And why? Why does that happen? It's because the first reason I have is because Jesus raises the standard for humanity.
[00:05:21] Now you've probably heard it before, but we're not under law, we're under grace. Correct I hope we all know that. Yeah. Good. Amen. So we're not under law, we're under grace. But who knows that the.
[00:05:32] The grace that we live under, the standard is higher than the grace that was under the law, Right? Under the law, you had to murder someone to be liable to the court. Actually, we're going to read this. Let's read it. Matthew, chapter five.
[00:05:46] I've got a few verses from Matthew five. They're sort of spliced in there. Verse 21 to 22. You have heard that our ancestors were told. That's the people. To who received the law. Our ancestors were told, you must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.
[00:06:01] But I say to you, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. Does that sound like a lower standard?
[00:06:11] If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.
[00:06:17] And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
[00:06:22] 43, 46. You have heard that the law says, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven, because he gives sunlight to both the evil and the good. He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.
[00:06:42] If you only love those who love you, what reward is there in that knife to the chest?
[00:06:50] Does that sound like a lower standard?
[00:06:54] Verse 20.
[00:06:56] I warn you, unless. Not me, Jesus. This is Jesus talking. Sorry I pointed out myself, but this is Jesus talking. I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you. You will never enter the kingdom.
[00:07:14] Ouch.
[00:07:18] For those of you who don't know, I grew up in Africa. So I was in Africa until I was about 14 years old. And the thing to know about being in Africa, in every country except South Africa, is soccer is the sport you play.
[00:07:30] It is just the sport you play. Now, I grew up playing soccer. And the only reason I'm saying soccer is because everyone will understand that. Because if I say football, chances are it's going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But. But I normally call soccer football because it actually makes sense. You actually play it with your feet. Right, Paddy? I can see Paddy just giving me all the amens in that corner because he agrees. But we're not going to go there. That's a sermon for a different day. Okay?
[00:07:54] Now, I grew up playing soccer, and I was a Very, very passionate supporter of a specific team. I don't need to go into which one, but I remember I was watching this game and as supporters of a sport do, you know, we know better than the people who are out there actually playing.
[00:08:13] And we always do. We always have the best insights and criticisms for these professional players out there. But I remember, like I was watching a game, it was a high stakes game. It was in the European Champions League. And that's the, you know, the top teams in Europe go into this league. And my team was playing against this other team and I was watching and it was a neck and neck game, edge of my seat stuff.
[00:08:35] And at one moment I just absolutely lost it because this one player, and looking back now, I don't even remember what he did. He might have been in front of goal and made a mess of it. It's happened to all soccer players. He might have needed to make a simple pass and it went to the opposition. I don't remember what it even was. All I remember was that I stood up and I was so annoyed, I started yelling at the television.
[00:08:58] Yeah, because somehow the television's gonna hear me, what I'm saying. But I was just livid with this guy. I was like, what are you doing? This is literally your full time job.
[00:09:08] Like, this is the only thing you have to do. And you couldn't make that pass, you couldn't make that goal, whatever it was. As I said, I don't remember.
[00:09:15] And this is the funny thing about that moment was I will never meet that player. I don't even remember which player it was.
[00:09:22] Never meet him. But Holy Spirit took that opportunity to teach me something.
[00:09:27] Because as I stood up there raging at this guy, I heard the Holy Spirit say, you know, I died for him.
[00:09:42] Jesus raises the standard.
[00:09:50] So that passage of scripture in Peter says that for us who believe, Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation for those who disbelieve, he's a stumbling block and a rock of offense.
[00:10:02] I've been like thinking over that a lot.
[00:10:06] And that sounds like what it's saying is that unbelievers are the ones who stumble, not the believers.
[00:10:13] My experience of that hasn't been that because as a Christian, I've still stumbled over Jesus. And so I'm like, God, what's that about?
[00:10:21] And being the all knowing, the all wise one that he is, I got an answer.
[00:10:30] We stumble over Jesus in the areas that we disbelieve.
[00:10:35] You don't have to be an unbeliever. But in the areas that you disbelieve what he says, you will stumble.
[00:10:46] Now, I'm going to take a little bit of a segue.
[00:10:49] I have met a lot of offended people in church.
[00:10:53] I have been an offended person in church. If you want to get offended, go to church.
[00:10:58] It's a great place to get offended.
[00:11:02] I have met people who have so much anger, bitterness, and even hate because they got offended at church.
[00:11:14] It's impossible to not get offended at church. By the way, I'll just start off by saying that you get into other people's worlds, you are going to get offended. The question is, what will you do when you are.
[00:11:24] I knew this one person. They were so convinced someone had betrayed them. I don't even remember what it was, but someone had betrayed them. And they were absolutely rageful, vengeful. They believed that that person was going to go to hell. And you couldn't tell them any different.
[00:11:43] But Jesus In Matthew chapter 6, verse 15 says this, if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
[00:11:58] Does that sound like a lower standard?
[00:12:03] That's a pretty high standard.
[00:12:06] And speaking personally, I've wrestled through trying to forgive someone. It's not easy.
[00:12:14] Someone close to you betrays you.
[00:12:16] And Jesus says that.
[00:12:20] But this is the thing about forgiveness.
[00:12:22] Anyone who can't forgive has forgotten how much they've been forgiven because your sins put him on a cross.
[00:12:33] So Jesus raises the standard. And of course that's going to challenge people. Of course that is going to cause people to stumble. Because all of a sudden, when we live by our standards, the life is fine. As soon as there's a higher standard, it's like, oh, no, I don't want anything to do with that.
[00:12:48] Because all of a sudden, now I'm held accountable to something that is higher.
[00:12:53] Jesus raises the standard.
[00:12:55] But in raising the standard, what does that do? Well, he challenges what we believe.
[00:13:03] And that's where 1 Peter 2:8 comes in.
[00:13:08] He is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
[00:13:16] As long as we disbelieve, as long as we disbelieve, we are going to stumble, stumble, stumble over Jesus.
[00:13:25] I am going to read from Matthew 21, verses 42 and 44. And this is Jesus quoting a same portion of that scripture, but he adds a little bit more onto it.
[00:13:38] So Jesus said to them, did you never read in the Scriptures the stone which the builders rejected? Now, who are the builders he's talking about? Those are the people who are supposed to be building up the faith. These are the religious leaders of the day. But they have rejected Jesus Right.
[00:13:54] If anyone had a problem with Jesus, it was the Pharisees, the religious leaders, right? They had the biggest problem with Jesus. And guaranteed, if we could go back in time and have this sermon spoken to them right now, they'd be going, yeah, there's a problem with Jesus. They planned to kill him long before he was crucified.
[00:14:14] But he was the. Jesus was the stone that the builders rejected and he became the chief cornerstone.
[00:14:21] This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Verse 44.
[00:14:27] He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.
[00:14:37] I'm going to explore that because it's really going to be fun.
[00:14:42] It's going to be a lot of fun.
[00:14:44] A couple of months ago, there was Grace Life Conference, and my wife and I, we were. One night, we were just sitting at the welcome desk, and this lady comes out and she's. You can tell she's not okay. She is distraught. She's got tears.
[00:15:00] They're not pouring yet, but you can see them welling up. And there's just a lot of strife going on in her life. And she comes to my wife and I, and she goes, can you guys pray for me? I want to recommit my life to the Lord.
[00:15:13] And so we pray for her, we minister to her, she recommits her life to Jesus.
[00:15:19] But as we're ministering to her, we start to get this sense that she needs to make a confession and not a confession of sin, but she needs to declare something over her life. And so we're just there and we just say to her, it's like, I feel like there's something you need to say out loud, something you need to declare. And that confession was just three simple words, I forgive myself.
[00:15:49] When we said those words to her, you could see the battle going on.
[00:15:54] And after maybe two minutes. And by the way, in those instances, two minutes is a long time. When you're just standing there staring at each other. Two minutes is a long time. So we're standing there for like two minutes, and if. And she just. Her eyes are shut, tears rolling down her face, and she goes, I forgive myself. And she burst into tears.
[00:16:15] Her face went into her hands. And then she just started weeping and saying, like, I've done so many bad things. Like, I've done so many bad things. Like. Like, I've been carrying this for so long.
[00:16:28] What happened? For so long, she believed she wasn't worth forgiving. She was stumbling, stumbling, stumbling over Jesus and in one moment, instead of stumbling over Jesus and being broken, the rock that is Christ fell right over her and completely changed her life forever.
[00:16:48] Those who fall over Jesus will be broken.
[00:16:52] There will be moments in your life where you feel broken. And it's because we've just been stumbling over Jesus. Disbelieving what he's saying about us is probably the biggest one. But also disbelieving what he says about other people, what he thinks about other people. Because we think our opinions are so important and they're just really not.
[00:17:08] At the end of the day, it's God's opinion that matters, not ours, right?
[00:17:12] I might look at Simon and go, wow, I hate his haircut.
[00:17:17] Simon, I love you, but you're sitting right in front of me and I might be thinking, wow, he's so annoying. And then all of a sudden, Jesus comes on the scene and he goes, I love Simon.
[00:17:29] I love Simon's haircut.
[00:17:36] Jesus comes along and he says, I died for Simon.
[00:17:40] But if we keep going in this belief that someone we're offended at is going to hell, we're not in alignment with Jesus, for starters. And what does a cornerstone give? It gives you a firm foundation, stability in your faith and alignment in your faith. It gives you alignment. But if we are out of alignment with Jesus, we're disbelieving and Jesus becomes what? A stumbling stone and a rock of offence.
[00:18:10] So this lady, she had just been stumbling over this belief for so long that she was not worth forgiving because of the severity of the things that she had done.
[00:18:21] And in one moment, in one moment where she just dared to believe that she was worth forgiving, dared to believe that he had forgiven her.
[00:18:31] Completely undone.
[00:18:34] Whoever falls on this stone will be broken in pieces on whoever it falls. They will be completely scattered, never the same again, completely undone.
[00:18:48] And it's okay.
[00:18:50] When you look at the story of Paul's conversion, I don't have the scripture for this, but if you want to read the story, it's in Acts 9.
[00:18:57] You look at the conversion of Paul and he's just a zealous Pharisee and he's persecuting the church.
[00:19:06] He what's the word I'm looking for? He approved of the stoning of Stephen, and he's on the road to Damascus about to wreak more havoc. And what happens? Jesus encounters him on the road to Damascus.
[00:19:22] And the funny thing about that story is Jesus doesn't say, why are you persecuting my children?
[00:19:28] He doesn't say, why are you persecuting Those who believe in me. He's not saying, why are you persecuting believers? What does he say? Why are you persecuting me?
[00:19:39] Right. When someone is persecuting you, Jesus takes that personally.
[00:19:47] So Paul, on his road to Damascus, encounters Jesus in one moment. And he had been stumbling over Jesus. He just didn't realize it, and it just didn't look the same, but he had been stumbling over Jesus in every moment. And in one moment, Jesus came crashing down over his life, and he was never the same again.
[00:20:00] I think we all know what happened to Paul. Ended up writing 16 letters of the New Testament, foundational in the. In the early church.
[00:20:09] One moment, Jesus fell on him.
[00:20:15] You know, PK mentioned my youth ministry days, and it's been a while since then, but, like, you know, if anyone, like, just, you know, you just really want a challenge, just go into youth ministry.
[00:20:27] It's a lot of fun because, like, teenagers are just real and raw, and they just. They really put you to the test. They want to know that you believe what you believe, and they will test that.
[00:20:38] So you got to have a firm foundation. But youth ministry is so much fun. And youth camps, by the way, if you've never been on one, they're just the next level.
[00:20:46] So I remember this one young lady at a youth camp, offended. So offended at Christ, so angry with Jesus, because what had happened was a friend of hers had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and she just wasn't being healed. She was prayed over countless times not being healed.
[00:21:08] And for her, what God was saying by not healing her was that she was not worthy of it. But she was also like, why does God not heal her? And she built up offense after offense after offense at God. But she still came to youth camp because she was still looking for an answer.
[00:21:26] She still came to youth camp.
[00:21:28] So we get to the last night of youth camp, and anyone who's been in youth ministry knows that the last night of youth camp is, oh, it's next level. It's nuclear.
[00:21:37] So we get to the last night of youth camp, and, you know, over the course of the three days, she'd been talking to people like the youth leaders, just going, why will God not heal her?
[00:21:49] And I was on the worship team at the time, and I just remember the last night, we're just in worship, and it's next level. As I said, those environments can get supercharged. So if you want a supercharged environment, just go to youth camp.
[00:22:02] So we're there, and I'm on the drums, and you Know, it's not the most acoustically sound place, so you're like, there's sound bouncing off everywhere.
[00:22:13] And she just starts hyperventilating.
[00:22:17] And it's not enough to stop what's going on, but it's very obvious that she's not okay. So she starts pacing up and down. She's hyperventilating, pacing up and down, hyperventilating. We just keep worshiping. And all of a sudden, like, the praise just entered another level.
[00:22:33] And as the praise entered another level, she goes down.
[00:22:36] No one touched her.
[00:22:38] Unfortunately, no one caught her, but no one knew she was going to go down.
[00:22:42] So she went down and she starts shuddering. Like, her body is just shuddering. And later, when we asked her about it, she said she could hear everything that everyone was saying, but she couldn't respond.
[00:22:53] And so we sort of finished up worship, and she was still on the ground, just shuddering. And so a few of us gathered around her. I rem. I was right in the thick of it. I had her head in my hands because she was writhing so much. I didn't want her head to get hurt on the floor. So I had her head in my hands, and we're just there praying for her.
[00:23:13] And the rest of the meeting sort of moved because there was lots of ministry going on.
[00:23:18] And we get the sense that, you know, she just needs to say and confess the name of Jesus and she'll be okay.
[00:23:26] She got close twice.
[00:23:28] She got to the je. She said g twice. Couldn't quite get the sus. G. Sus.
[00:23:39] And so we're there praying for her. I think it was like six of us around her just praying for her. The rest of the crew were just ministering over youth as God is just touching people left, right, and sideways.
[00:23:50] And when we keep ministering to her, and in one moment, it was the softest voice. She just said, jesus.
[00:23:57] And it was so quiet, but the room went dead silent.
[00:24:04] Everyone who was being ministered to stopped and looked at her. We were all there looking at her, tears rolling down my face. I was so moved by this.
[00:24:11] And the next thing you know, she does this victory fist pump. Her fist goes up in the air, and she just says, jesus Church. She was never the same again.
[00:24:23] She got baptized the next week, Biggest smile on her face. No offense at God, but she had stumbled, stumbled, stumbled over him because she believed that he was not good.
[00:24:39] Her belief of him was false.
[00:24:42] And the truth is that God is good, whether we see it in the moment or not, whether we can fathom it in the moment or not he is always good.
[00:24:54] And she was in this moment, like, she has such a beautiful testimony now. Because when we got to the end of youth camp, we were in a circle, and everyone said what their favorite part of it was. And she said, encountering the real God, that was her highlight.
[00:25:13] Because before that, all she did was stumble, stumble, stumble. And offense, offense. Offense built up. I love to say it this way. Offense puts up a fence between you and God.
[00:25:35] So what is the Jesus problem?
[00:25:39] Well, the Jesus problem is centered on a choice.
[00:25:42] I don't know how many Shakespeare fans we have in here, but I had to be creative with this. As I said, the Jesus problem centers around a choice. To believe or not to believe.
[00:25:54] That is the question.
[00:26:01] Because at the core of it, one of the core foundational problems that people have with Jesus is that Jesus loves you.
[00:26:11] Now you question and ask, why is that a problem? Is because people don't believe they're worth loving.
[00:26:16] People don't believe other people are worth loving.
[00:26:21] And all of a sudden, we are disbelieving the truth of God's nature. And Jesus is love.
[00:26:27] God so loved that he gave Jesus.
[00:26:36] So the core of the Jesus problem is that people don't think people are worth loving.
[00:26:43] Because as soon as Jesus raises the standard and he says, okay, I want you to love your enemies, it's like, oh, my enemies are not worth loving?
[00:26:53] And what did Jesus do? He chose the people who were. Well, who gravitated to Jesus.
[00:26:59] It was the tax collectors. It was the prostitutes. It was all of the people who had been broken by life. And Jesus said, no, you're worth loving.
[00:27:09] Jesus loved the unlovable. He touched the untouchable. Lepers came to him. And in that culture, by the way, if you touched someone who had a skin disease, that culture said you were unclean.
[00:27:20] And what does Jesus do? A leper comes to him, says, lord, if you are willing, you can make me whole again. Jesus says, reaches out, touches them, and says, I am willing be healed.
[00:27:29] What is Jesus saying? He's saying, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not unclean because you touched me. You're clean because I touched you.
[00:27:42] And guess what?
[00:27:45] Those who disbelieve are going to stumble over that.
[00:27:51] Those who disbelieve are going to get offended at that.
[00:27:55] But at the core of it all, the core of why people have a problem with Jesus is because he comes preaching love.
[00:28:13] To believe or not to believe, that is the question.
[00:28:18] Easier said than done. I know it. I've been there.
[00:28:21] I have believed with all of My heart that I was just worthless, helpless, useless and good for nothing.
[00:28:28] Chances are that some of you have believed that too.
[00:28:31] Some of you may believe that right now, but Jesus looks at you and he says, you were worth my life.
[00:28:44] Don't call yourself worthless.
[00:28:46] You were worth my life.
[00:28:49] I died for you on that cross. I bore every single mistake you ever made. The problem is that you don't believe you're worth forgiving when he's already provided the sacrifice that forgives you.
[00:29:05] Gonna go through one more passage of scripture. And Alex, you're welcome to come up and this portion of scripture that we're about to read follows a story. And essentially what happens in this story is Jesus is calling himself the bread of life. And everyone was just confused because you would be too, if you were there. Because Jesus is saying, hey, if you don't eat my flesh or drink my blood, you're going to die.
[00:29:31] Okay, so now people back then didn't understand parables. We understand them now because we've had 2,000 years of people stumbling over parables.
[00:29:41] So what happens from that is a lot of his followers, they. They just desert him. So that's where we're going to pick up here in John 6, starting at verse 66. At this point, many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Does that sound like people who are offended or stumbling?
[00:29:57] Sure does to me.
[00:29:59] Verse 67. Then Jesus turned to the 12 and asked, Are you also going to leave?
[00:30:06] And Simon Peter replied, lord, to whom would we go?
[00:30:10] You have the words that give eternal life.
[00:30:13] Verse 69.
[00:30:15] We believe and we know you are the Holy One of God.
[00:30:24] Sometimes we're not going to understand what on earth Jesus is talking about.
[00:30:28] And sometimes we're not going to understand why he's asking us to do a certain something that he's asked us to do. Do the question in that moment.
[00:30:36] To believe or not to believe.
[00:30:40] The twelve apostles could have left Jesus in that moment. Everyone else did.
[00:30:45] Everyone else got offended at him because they didn't understand what he was saying, but they grasped something. You have the words of eternal life. It doesn't matter if I don't understand.
[00:30:56] I choose to believe.
[00:31:07] Whenever I speak, everything always comes back to the Gospel.
[00:31:14] The Gospel in its simplest form was so easy. Repent and believe, because the kingdom is within your reach.
[00:31:21] Repent. What does that mean? Well, I feel like a lot of people just get repentance wrong. Repentance means change your mind, change the way you're thinking. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There is Scripture that backs that up. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Change the way you think first. Because chances are you're not thinking consistent with what he is saying. So come into alignment with what he thinks first.
[00:31:49] The first Jesus problem we said was that Jesus raises the standard. If you've been trying to uphold that standard by yourself, guess what? You're going to fail.
[00:31:57] But with God, all things are possible.
[00:32:01] Jesus gave you the grace to uphold that standard.
[00:32:05] But as long as you believe that that standard is too high and try to do it in your strength, you will stumble.
[00:32:13] I said it earlier. It's a simple message. Chances are you've heard what I'm saying before. You may not have heard it the way I'm saying it.
[00:32:22] Maybe you stumbled with things that you have believed that are inconsistent with what he believes, or rather what he says.
[00:32:28] Maybe you believe that you're helpless, worthless.
[00:32:35] I did for a long time.
[00:32:38] It took a long time for me to get out of that.
[00:32:41] But it started with a simple prayer. God, thank you that I am your son.
[00:32:46] That is our identity in him. Sons and daughters.
[00:32:52] Not sinners, not failures. Sons and daughters.
[00:32:59] The simplest form of the gospel, repent belief.
[00:33:02] I don't really need to talk about the second one. We've been talking about it this whole time.
[00:33:07] Believe consistent with what he's saying.
[00:33:12] Why is any of that important?
[00:33:14] Because you will not take a hold of the kingdom until that happens.
[00:33:19] It is God's desire to give you the kingdom. Jesus said that the Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. All you have to do is reach out and take it. Don't take a hold of the kingdom when you die. That's too late. Eternal life starts now. It's not then.
[00:33:35] Jesus said in John 17, Eternal life is knowing God the Father and and knowing Jesus Christ the Son. It is intimate relationship with him is eternal life. It starts now.
[00:33:45] It's not about living forever. It's about knowing him who is the one who is going to live forever.
[00:33:55] Maybe you're struggling with the Jesus problem that says Jesus loves you.
[00:34:02] Maybe you don't think you're worth loving.
[00:34:05] Maybe you're still looking at the mistakes that you made. I want to encourage you with the story I shared before. I don't want to share her name because it's not relevant.
[00:34:15] But she stumbled, stumbled, stumbled, holding offence against. Well, first of all, herself, not realizing she was stumbling over Jesus and being offended at Jesus because she was acting contrary to what Jesus is saying about her.
[00:34:32] So maybe you're struggling with that Does Jesus really love me?
[00:34:41] Repent and believe because the kingdom is within your reach.
[00:34:45] If I had to ask you, do you want the kingdom?
[00:34:53] I hope there's no one that says no.
[00:34:55] That would be really awkward for me right now.
[00:34:58] First time preaching at world changes and someone goes, no, I don't want the kingdom.
[00:35:03] I promise you, you do.
[00:35:06] I promise you, you do.
[00:35:10] He sets up two things that need to happen before we take the kingdom, because that's what sets us up to thrive in his kingdom.
[00:35:19] Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Believe what God says about you. Believe what God says, full stop. But first and foremost, what God says about you.
[00:35:40] What is the Jesus problem? You tell me.
[00:35:43] You tell me, what's the Jesus problem?
[00:35:46] To believe or not to believe.
[00:35:49] It's a very, very easy way for you to remember it. I hope you remember it. He just carry it everywhere. Because in every moment there's going to be something that you can be offended or stumble over.
[00:36:00] At every moment, there's something you can be angry about in those moments. To believe or not to believe.
[00:36:07] When you need to pay a bill and there's no money in the bank account. To believe or not to believe, that is the question.
[00:36:13] It ain't easy.
[00:36:15] It ain't easy.
[00:36:21] It's the standard Jesus set.
[00:36:25] It's the only thing he asks of us, is belief.
[00:36:29] And Pastor Carl has taken us through a beautiful series on faith. And I'm glad I got to share this with you today because we do have a choice.
[00:36:40] So today I'm going to ask if the worship team can come up, because we're going to just open up for a bit of ministry time. But we're going to talk about those areas in particular.
[00:36:54] Maybe you've been trying to uphold the standard in your own strength and you haven't fully surrendered to what God is doing. You haven't fully surrendered to his grace. Because you're just so focused on the performance of your life.
[00:37:09] If that's you, this is your moment, don't miss it. Let you stepping forward be the outward declaration of the faith that's happening inside you right now. Let it be the outward declaration of the choice that is happening inside of you.
[00:37:22] The second one.
[00:37:26] Maybe you're struggling with something that you've believed for all of your life.
[00:37:30] Maybe you were told that you were a mistake.
[00:37:35] Maybe you were told that you're not worth anything.
[00:37:39] Maybe you were told you won't amount to anything.
[00:37:42] By the way, all lies.
[00:37:45] All lies. But if you have struggled with that, this is your moment. Don't miss it. Let you stepping out be the outward declaration of the choice that you are making inside. And last of all, maybe you believe that Jesus doesn't love you.
[00:37:58] I heard someone say this and it's a bit funny, so forgive me for just adding a bit of comic relief. I heard someone say this and I just loved it so much. If God loves everyone except you, you're not that special.
[00:38:12] You're not that special that God loves everyone and not you.
[00:38:19] It's good, right?
[00:38:21] Maybe. Maybe you've been struggling with that.
[00:38:24] But today's your day. Don't miss.
[00:38:29] Because what is our collectively, what is our direction for this next year? Freedom.
[00:38:38] This is your moment.
[00:38:40] Don't let it pass you by.
[00:38:43] So we're going to worship and there will be prayer ministers available, but we'll worship in this moment. Take your time.
[00:38:52] But thank you for having me.
[00:38:56] Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
[00:39:06] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team, and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
