Messages • King of Kings Church
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Messages • King of Kings Church
Answering Your Questions
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Welcome And Rapid Fire Format
SPEAKER_02Good morning, church. So good to be with all of you today at all of our campuses everywhere. And it is uh asking for a friend. So here we go. Uh, today, the way this is gonna go, we would invite, I think all our campuses are doing voting. You can pull out your vote, your phones, and you can vote for which pastor will be most succinct and in time of his answer. No, we wouldn't do that. We're not gonna make anyone choose because we know that uh we're not even gonna go there.
SPEAKER_00Everybody knows you're the problem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. So, anyways, uh, here's the way this is gonna work today. Uh, we're gonna uh ask questions to one another that have been submitted, and we're gonna start with one-minute quick hitters. So we will answer the first group of questions in one minute, and then we've got some uh just tougher, more challenging questions that just deserve a little bit more time of five minutes. Um, but again, these aren't gonna get everything answered in all that time. All of these could have easily been a 30-minute message on their own merit. So uh we're not gonna do that. So, what we do want to invite you to do is uh if you have follow-up of like, hey, I heard they said this just after the service, talk to your campus uh pastors that are at their campuses, ask them, they'll be able to go a little further, or they'll be able to at least say, here's Greg and Zach's email. You can ask them uh on that further. So here we go.
Tongues And Discovering Spiritual Gifts
SPEAKER_02First question uh here is for Zach here. Uh, if I can't speak in tongues, is there something wrong with moi that's that's in tongues? That means me.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay, thank you. Yep. Uh the answer is no. Great. No, you nothing's wrong with you. Uh speaking in tongues, right? It's a spiritual gift. The Bible talks about spiritual gifts. The way I like to say it is uh everyone has a spiritual gift, but not one person has every gift. And so I desire all the gifts, if I'm honest with you, um, but I've only got some of the gifts or a few of the gifts. And so nothing wrong with you if you can't speak in tongues. The point, though, is discover what your spiritual gift is and put it to use for the church. That's what all spiritual gifts are meant for. And uh, we've got a great opportunity, GG, at our campuses next Sunday for pizza with a purpose, which we we dive into a little bit more on spiritual gifts and how you can use your gift at our campus. So I would just put a plug in kingofkings.org slash pizza if you haven't signed up yet. We'd love to have you there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Discover that spiritual gift and um and God's wired us all differently to to do that kingdom together.
Why Jesus Descends Into Hell
SPEAKER_00All right. In the apostles' creed, we profess that Jesus descends into hell. Yeah, why?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, great, great question. I think one of the things that's uh important to know about this, of all of our major doctrines, this is actually the only major doctrine that's mentioned in scripture just once. And it is found in 1 Peter 3, uh 19. For Christ suffered once for all sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh and made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison. And the key word there to give the answer on this is proclaimed. So this is not Christ's further suffering, this actually begins his exaltation, and so now it is a victory proclamation, and we'll talk a little bit later, and because another question alludes to this a victory proclamation that Christ is saying to death, to the devil, to all in hell, that he has won and God's wrath is on them, not on you and me.
SPEAKER_00It's good, and I love that there is no depth that Jesus will not go to to get our victory.
Pride And Putting Ourselves In Charge
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we didn't choose these questions for who could best answer them. But Zach, will you explain the sin of pride?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had to do a research project on this because I it wasn't something that you know I had experienced. Um, so thank you for opening yourself up for a long interview on it. Um, no, to me, the sin of pride, you know, some people say that pride is thinking too highly of yourself. I don't view it, uh I think we ought to view ourselves highly because you and I, we are redeemed, special children of God that he has gifted. To me, pride steps into um this idea that um you're putting yourself in God's place where you don't need anybody and you've got everything figured out. And pride is such a major issue. Some say it's the very first sin, depending on how you define what happens in the garden with Adam and Eve. It's in the seven deadly sins. Um, but again, I think we ought to think highly of ourselves, but never put ourselves in a place where I'm making the calls and I think I know what's best rather than God.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Humility is.
SPEAKER_00That's what I discovered on my research project this week. That's great. That's great. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02I'll put some of that into play in my life.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
The Right Hand Of God
SPEAKER_00All right. Next one. We're quick hitters at the beginning here. In scripture, it talks about Jesus seated at the right hand of God. Who's who's at the left?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, probably some pastor is gonna be at the left, is my guess. Yeah, probably. No, all of our wives know it's gonna be them. Um, I'm kidding. All right. Uh, here's this is a great question. So, this is a more metaphorical rather than an actual God seated and then right and left. The scriptures talk a lot about seated at the right hand of God. It is in the form of authority and power. All right, and so so Christ sits in that that that realm and that spot. There is nowhere in scripture that actually moves to a left, like that this is it, or the Holy Spirit would be there. There's nothing in scriptures that would lead us to be able to say that. Um, so look at it more as where do we see the Father, Son, Spirit uh executing what they are in their power and their authority, which is all things, and then they live that out primarily in the mode of grace.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you're gonna see a lot of questions today about what heaven is like and what the things are like after this world, and that's that's a great one.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah.
Discernment About Toys Fear And Idols
SPEAKER_02So this is another great one, Zach. Are monster high dolls uh against God? Like, can we play with those if we're kids? A lot of kids in the room.
SPEAKER_00Are you at you have a collection of these?
SPEAKER_02I I don't, but some children here do, okay.
SPEAKER_00Well, I feel about as unqualified for this answer as because I didn't know what they were until this week. So I looked it up. I did look this one up. And uh apparently they're little toys, little dolls that remember Dracula or Beetlejuice, some of these famous uh sort of monsters from our childhood. So these dolls are like fictional characters of if these guys had children. So if you're wondering what that is, that's that's what it is. So um, are they against God? Uh, two things I'd say really quickly. Number one, I think any toy or anything, any collectible can become an idol. And it, of course, whenever it takes top priority, I would say yeah. Second thing was specifically with this genre of things, though, um, is is I I think we need to be careful. I don't want to say it's against God. I think a lot of innocence is there in playing with it and collecting and using our imaginations, right, which God gives to us. Uh, but for me, anytime we're kind of entering into the horror or scare fear tactics, um, I just choose not to enter into that world too often because I know that the enemy loves to bring fear to us. And so I would say that's a heart check for me, but not an outright no. Uh, it kind of depends on the situation and yeah, who's playing with it.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, that that's good. We got to be really careful when we start to kind of just live in the like this is good, this isn't good in these kind of realms, right? It's this is where we do that. That's good.
Women Preaching Church Order And Calling
SPEAKER_00In a previous asking for a friend, I believe, yeah, you mentioned something that we wouldn't have the Easter story without women preachers. And so that's a big question today is can women be preachers?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a great question. And in one minute, uh, we're gonna solve this. Um, I I think one of the things we have to be really uh just aware of is that uh this is not an answer as far as can women be pastors? This is not an answer you're gonna find in the scriptures. What this is an answer is is you look at denominations looking and saying, Well, we believe that in our hermeneutics this leads us to say women can be pastors or can't be pastors. Um, and there's a lot of debate on that. Um, I actually was just listening to a a pretty famous pastor recently, and he said, Of course women can be pastors, but they can't be senior pastors. And so in their their spot, they're going. And so all of that's that's there. So we have to really be on guard of this. So why do we have those decisions? It's for sake of good order. Um, it's so that those churches cannot have confusion within themselves and that they're walking together in some way. In our church body, we say that that women can't be pastors. Can women be preachers? Well, I think that we have to know the word preach. What does that mean? To proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. And so anytime you're proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to someone, you are preaching. Whether you're a male or a female, you are preaching. And so, so uh we have this. We look at Romans 16. Paul commends the Roman church, uh, he commends them to Phoebe, a servant of God. And so you've got to say, like, what does that even mean? Was she proclaiming preaching? Probably, right? And so I believe that women are great preachers. We see it through the scriptures, we see it at the empty tomb. I believe that women are great teachers, men are great teachers and preachers, and so let us all continue to be preaching the good news of Jesus, is uh the proclamation of the resurrection and and living, leaving people to come to heaven.
SPEAKER_01So nothing to add. Nothing to add. Yeah, I mean a lot to add, but not. Yeah, great, great, yeah. In one minute, that's
Cremation Or Burial Plus Beard Debate
SPEAKER_01it.
SPEAKER_02Zach, yeah, is there a theological difference between being cremated or buried?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I actually remember doing a project on this at seminary, and the Lutheran response is either one is great, right? We see in scripture, in Ezekiel, also there's a story of Elisha of like bones coming back to life, but we also know from dust to dust, from ashes to like we return to that. And so I believe in a God that is powerful enough that either way is fine. Um, and so I've actually told my family I want one of two things when I die. Um, a either the most inexpensive route and use all the extra funds for ministry, or we can call the owners of the Cleveland Browns and have them be my pallbearers so they can let me down one more time before I'm actually done. So either one's good.
SPEAKER_02That's good. All right, we did save the best of the quick hitter questions for last. It's an important one, and I think this might be one that's divisive, but we'll figure it out. Is it more godly to have a beard or to be clean shaven? That's easy. Obviously, it's clean shaven. To have a beard. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Clean shaven. All the ladies would agree with clean shaven.
SPEAKER_02Whatever. I only interested in one lady, so um, that's fine. Um what's good.
Tribulation Rapture And The Millennium
SPEAKER_02What do what are Lutherans, Zach? What do Lutherans believe about the tribulation and the rapture?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so now you give me a five-minute call.
SPEAKER_02This is a five-minute, this is a five-minute question.
SPEAKER_00You answered the women preacher thing in a minute. I've got five minutes to solve all of revelation. Thank you. Thank you for that. So, yeah, defining things really quickly. Tribulation is a time of intense suffering. Uh, rapture um is Kirk Cameron in the Left Behind series, where all of a sudden the the ones who are right, the ones that believe, get snatched away first. And if you're wondering what being snatched away is, all you need to do is go to last night and look at the Western Michigan versus Michigan game to see a victory snatched from Western Michigan to your Wolverines. Congratulations on your fake victories.
SPEAKER_01We're one to know.
SPEAKER_00Okay, now I want to answer the question. I had that joke I wanted to get in there first. You got it, you got it. But it all it so it all kind of goes to what you think of another word in Revelation, the millennium, the 1,000-year reign. And so if you go to Revelation chapter 20, you can read about Jesus and his 1,000-year reign. We're gonna dive deep real quick. There's three different viewpoints, and actually there's even more, but three primary viewpoints on what you believe about the thousand-year reign, which again is going to happen around the tribulation and the rapture. There's premillennial, everybody say pre. Pre. There's post-millennial, everybody say post. Post. And there's ah millennial, everybody say ah. Ah. So those prefixes, obviously, one camp believes that the thousand-year reign of Jesus, um, that the tribulation and the rapture and all of these things are gonna happen prior to the thousand-year reign. Another believes it's gonna happen post after the thousand-year reign. And Lutherans, we believe in the ah, which the prefix means without. In other words, we believe that the reign of Jesus is real. We believe that tribulation and intense suffering for Christ is real, and we believe that those who believe in Jesus will be raised from the dead. We just don't believe it's literal. It all depends on how you read the book of Revelation. Uh, obviously, in our scriptures, there is so much that is literal, history, facts, so many books that are to be read that way. But there's also another genre of books in the Bible, and revelation is probably the primary uh genre of apocalyptic. Everybody say apocalyptic. Apocalyptic. It's kind of a fun word to say. Apocalyptic literature, which is literature that is not meant to be taken literally, but instead figuratively, and it is filled with numbers and colors and images and animals and symbols. And you see that all throughout the book of Revelation. And so Lutherans believe in an a millennial that there is a reign of Christ, that there is real intense suffering, and that there the dead will be raised to be with Christ. We just believe that all of that's happening now, after Jesus has resurrected already from the grave. And so this is what we're experiencing now. Uh to me, the most helpful thing I heard about Revelation, I actually remember when I moved to Omaha five years ago. I was driving from Central Florida to Omaha, and I did what you all would do on a really long road trip. I binge-listened to sermon series. Oh, you're laughing. Maybe you don't do that. Okay, anyway. I don't remember if it was a 10 or a 12 weeker, but I remember listening to Matt Chandler on Revelation, and I think he said this line every single week, and it stuck with me. And I think it's such a good way to view revelation that revelation cannot mean for us what it did not mean for them. Yeah, it's a vision, and it cannot mean for us what it did not mean for them. And what did it mean for them? It was a book written to persecuted, scattered Christians to remind them to hang on. Persecution is real, suffering is happening, but Jesus reigns and Jesus wins. It's not a book that we need to look at and look at current events and timelines and dates and certain political things and say, well, well, this is what Revelation. No, it cannot mean for us what it did not mean for them. And so there's differences of opinions on how we take a look at the book of Revelation, but there's actually far more agreement on what Revelation does say. And so I wrote this down of kind of how to wrap this one up. This is what everybody agrees on. Jesus will return bodily, the dead will be raised, evil will be defeated, judgment will come, God's people will be with him, creation will be restored, Jesus wins, and so do all those that believe in him.
SPEAKER_02That's very good.
SPEAKER_00All right.
Reading Revelation As Apocalyptic Literature
SPEAKER_00Next, Greg, the Old Testament uh especially speaks of this place called Sheol. Yep. Um, so what is it and has it changed since Christ's resurrection?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is a really great question. First of all, in the Old Testament, we do hear about Sheol, and let's first define what that means. Simply in the Hebrew, that means the place of the dead. Uh think of it like this. In the Old Testament, the way that a uh first centurian, uh first centurian Jew would have heard of this or would have thought about this would have been this is kind of Satan's bunker. It's his place that he dwells. Um, but also throughout the Old Testament, as you see it, um, you see that this is the place where it talked about in the psalmist. Like I'm in Sheol, uh, which means I'm just walking through like a really tough season. Like Dave Reddle is wearing a Hawkey's jersey. He's in Sheol, right? Like so yellow, so bright. Like just he's saying, I'm walking through a dead time right now.
SPEAKER_00Um as they won 40 to nothing yesterday with a real victory.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna have a meeting about your employment here this week. Um so so here's one of the things that I think happens that we need to remember is that the scriptures are living and breathing, and and we can look at it and say that what was experienced for for the people of God in the times of God are what we sometimes experience as well. And so when you're you're walking through a dry valley or a tough season, uh, you're walking through a where are you, God? This is the laments, the Psalms of Laments. Where are you, God? Why aren't you with me, right? All these things, they're not, they're they're you're walking through a tough season. Now, here's what we also always remember, even in the old testament, which is that that Christ's power and presence, right, wasn't bound to not not include what happens in Sheol. So, so he's still authoritative over Sheol, right? And this we see in the the the scriptures that every tongue, every knee will bow and proclaim in the New Testament Christ is Lord. That includes those who are in hell. They will also proclaim Christ is Lord. So, what do we know then about the New Testament and how has it how has it changed with Christ's resurrection? In the Old Testament, what they were looking for was they were looking for God to break open the gates of Sheol and to ransom and rescue the people to come out. For you and for me, we know that the Easter victory of the tomb, Christ descending into hell, proclaiming, and this is that proclamation to all in hell in 1 Peter 3, 19 and 20, that he is saying the gates of hell are broken open. God's wrath is now not upon human beings, it has been upon me, and I am declaring his victory to all of those who follow and call me as Lord and Savior. And so now we have the reality that we don't have an eternal destiny of Sheol. We don't have an eternal destiny of hell. We now have, through Christ alone, we have a destiny to live in heaven with him and in a new heaven and a new earth, uh, where there will be no Sheol uh for us as people because of his victory and his restoration of lives all time and of our new heaven and new earth. So to wrap this up with the last minute is when you think about what has Christ changed with Sheol, is he has broken open the gates of hell so that we no longer are destined for it. In Christ alone, we now are destined for everlasting and eternal life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think the closest New Testament parallel, right? The Hebrew Sheol in Greek is played out, Hades. And we get that that verse that's beautiful that talks about actually us and the church, along of course with Christ at the head of it, that the gates of it's not hell, it actually says Hades will not prevail. So it's pretty sweet.
SPEAKER_02It's
Sheol Hades And Christ’s Victory
SPEAKER_02great. So, Zach, what happens when someone dies and what are they going to be doing in heaven for all time? I I used to wrestle with this question as a teenager all the time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, good news. I went up to heaven this week and did a little field trip and got came back. Yeah, so I could report exactly what it's gonna look like.
SPEAKER_02And you were in Michigan.
SPEAKER_00I was in Michigan this last week. Yep.
SPEAKER_02So there we go.
SPEAKER_00I was also in Phoenix, dropping my son off for anyway. Um, yeah, what happens when someone dies? What are they doing in heaven? You get a lot of questions, uh, you know, and sentiment around that. You hear at funerals a lot of different talk as well. And we're not sure, right? What's going on right now? Is grandpa up there golfing? Is is grandma up there uh playing bridge? Is is dad uh fishing? Maybe I don't know. Um, what we do know is that when someone dies, this is kind of what scripture is really clear on is they're in a really great place. Things are okay. We have the apostle Paul wrestling with this in Philippians chapter one, and for a verse he says, To live is Christ, but to die is gain. And he kind of has this inner dialogue, these rest. On paper, and he says, I'm torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ. Here it is, which is better by far. But it's more necessary for you that I remain in the body. We also have that beautiful passage of scripture where Jesus is literally hanging on the cross, and the thief on the cross cries out to Jesus. And what does he say? Today you will be with me in paradise. So here's what we know death doesn't get the final say. We are with Jesus. We are at rest, at peace, and it is better by far than anything we can experience, even the best of what we can experience in this world. Having said that, we also know that when Jesus returns, we will rise and we will have some sort of resurrected, glorified body as well. Paul writes later in Philippians, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body. We know that when Jesus rose, he had a real body, he walked, he talked, and he ascended 40 days later. And somehow, some way, we'll have whatever that resurrected, glorified body looks like. Perhaps each of us will finally get that six-pack of abs we've been trying hard. Actually, we're not even trying anymore. We've given up on that.
SPEAKER_02You're wearing a runza shirt. I mean, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Go runza. And so, what are what are we doing up there? This is speculation. Uh, will there be art and music and sport and food and maybe even my dog Ziggy? I think so. I think the things you enjoy in this world, right? Revelation 21 talks about Jesus bringing the new heavens down to earth, but it's a it's a recreation, it's a restoring. Even Martin Luther was once asked, hey, if I were to die tomorrow, what should I do today? And he said, plant an apple tree. Because somehow we have to believe, and scripture teaches us how important the things that we are that we do in this world, that somehow in the recreated, restored, perfect world, we have to believe that the things that we do, the planting of the seeds that happen here that do something will be even greater than we can possibly imagine in heaven. And so I think I think those things will be uh around, and um but most of all, nobody's gonna be disappointed. Psalm 16, 11, and this is the key, Jesus is there, says, In your presence there is fullness of joy. That sounds pretty sweet. No more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, no more sin, fullness of joy, and maybe a hole in one or two every single day the rest of my life.
SPEAKER_02I do think uh that's good. I think uh, you know, with with what is your designed purpose? I I think this is so well. We we are made with a purpose to worship our God, for our God deserves all worship and all praise all times. And so so we will be in worship, and what that will look like will be will be uh different, but no one will be disappointed, and it will be great. It'll be great. Thanks. Good answer. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm back. You're welcome. Is that good? That's good.
Realigning A Broken Conscience
SPEAKER_00Okay, good. Um, we get a lot of questions uh like this one. It feels like my conscience is broken, I'm off. Like, how do I realign with God's will? What does that look like?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a that's a really good question. And I think what happens with this one is we get into this spot when we have done something that we know was a blatant violation of God's will. And what what happens in that is we know that uh because of our uh faith that has been gifted to us by the power of the Holy Spirit, uh, we have a conscience and in the in the book of Hebrews that that the word of God uh is sharper than any double-edged sword, and it's dividing it and it's convicting us, and so that conviction happens. And I I like to divide this up into two things because this is something that I think every single person uh we wrestle with as believers, because we know that we're sinners, and there is no person until we take our last and final breath and are with Jesus that sin does not plague us. And so there's guilt and there's shame. And our our conscience of the guilt is you've done something wrong. So if you have this perpetual guilt where you're like, I've confessed this sin to God and I know He forgives me, but I still feel guilty, right? Um we may need to actually bring that that even further. Maybe we need to hear out loud the absolution. And so so that's a spot where we may need to say uh to a friend or to a pastor, someone, say, hey, listen, I I just need to let you know, like I need a moment of confession with you, and and be able to confess that sin and then hear wholeheartedly, uh, I and the power and in the stead and by the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, announce the forgiveness of your sin. Uh, and to release that guilt. And I think you saw this with Peter after he denied Jesus three times. And in John 21, Jesus appears to Peter after the res as a post-resurrection appearance and says, Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? To which he finally says, Yes, Lord, yes, you know I love. That was a restoration releasing him from his guilt and his guilt of denial of Christ in his most uh horrific hour, right? And so that restoration happens. So so in guilt, when we have that, like sometimes we need to just confess that and and that now, also another piece is is the shame. Now I want to tell you that shame is not from God. God never shames you into obedience, he doesn't shame you into a submission. Uh, shame is not from God, shame is from Satan. And so if you're walking with shame and saying, This is who I am, this is a shame that I have, this is my identity, I just want you to hear this today. If you don't hear anything else, please send that thought back to hell where it belongs. Get it back into Sheol and send that back to Satan because it is Satan who continues in the midst of our deepest and darkest of sins that we all have, where we go, how can God really love you when you do this or when you did this? Right? And this is a wrestling that we always have, by the way, right? We see this Paul with Paul. I do the things I don't want to do, but I find myself continuing to do them. He doesn't allow shame to take over and say, I am no longer a disciple of Christ. Okay, and so so don't let shame, if your conscience is saying you're broken, that this is it, please know that is from hell. That is not from God. And and God can redeem and restore all of our brokenness, even the most broken of thoughts that continue to plague us. So give those to God. Say, Lord, I need you to take this away, and I know who I am and whose I am, and release yourself from the shame that Satan is trying to plague you with because he is using that shame to try to separate you from God, to say, God's love is for everybody but you because of what you did. First of all, your sin is no worse than mine, than Zach's, than Paul's, the apostle who stood and said, throw the stones at Steve Stephen. Okay. So so Christ died and rose for all sin, including all of yours.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I've heard it said before that guilt is I did something wrong, and shame is I am something wrong. And there's an appropriate time to actually feel guilt because I do some things wrong. Yeah, and I should feel guilty, but in my guilt, I come to the Lord so that I never hopefully get to the place where I'm believing I am, and where I hope that you don't get to where you believe I am something wrong. Jesus defeated that at the cross. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Amen.
First And Last Heavenly Rewards
SPEAKER_02Uh speaking of Jesus, yeah, that's good. Jesus talks a lot about the first being the last and the last being the first in heaven. What does this mean?
SPEAKER_00My favorite verse, because as a Zach Zender, I got a beautiful eternity awaiting me because I'm last all the time, but in heaven I'm gonna be first. Anyway, it's said multiple times through scripture, but the context in Matthew chapter 19, there is a rich young man that is offered the opportunity of a lifetime to follow after Jesus, and he walks away. And Peter responds, Um, We've left everything to follow you. What will there be for us? And this is Jesus' response back to Peter. He said, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. Um, this is the idea. You can't read the gospels, even the parts of the New Testament. There is something to be said, which we don't talk a lot about in the church, about heavenly rewards. That somehow, somehow, the things that you do, they'll never earn you salvation. We just talked about Jesus did that at the cross for you, but what we do is important, and somehow those works, God sees in secret, and we will be rewarded. I don't know what last and first in heaven looks like. I don't know if it's we're all kind of watching a game, and those of us who've done really well get like a box suite at the 50, where the others are in nosebleeds. Maybe I don't know. So I can't tell you with that specific specificity, but what I can say, and I think what Jesus' point all throughout is is the greatest investment you can make right now is in his promise of eternal life. It's in heaven that what you do matters, and every time you obey, every time you serve, oh, we get the music pads behind me now, every time you forgive, every time you give, every time you sacrifice, every time you do take the place of humility, God sees that, and you will be rewarded. I'm not a hundred percent sure what that looks like, but what I'm betting on is the greatest investment you can make is what you do now for eternity. That's good.
SPEAKER_02That's good.
Sinners Anonymous Invitation And Prayer
SPEAKER_02Um, you know, as we wrap up today, I think one of the things that I love about questions is they can either make us run from God or run to God. And hopefully and prayerfully, our questions help us run to God to see him even greater in what he's doing. But I also think as human beings, our sin can either lead us to run from God or to God. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're pretty excited at King of Kings. We're gonna be jumping into a sermon series next week called Sinners Anonymous. It's a six-week series where we're gonna look at the story of Jonah. And as we dive deep into Jonah, we're also gonna be looking at the 12 steps of recovery that Alcoholics Anonymous, narcotics anonymous, all the A-A-N-A-G-A groups have made uh popular in their groups. And what you kind of discover is the 12 steps are actually very biblical. And we're gonna actually see that in these steps, all of us have an opportunity to come back to God. All of us have an opportunity to admit that we're powerless and to admit that we know who the higher power is. His name is Jesus. But we're gonna do a lot of serious talk, diving deep, because we may not all be addicted, but I know all of us are sinful. And it's time uh that the church takes the 12 steps back. I mean, they can keep them too, they need them as well. But we got to get these principles back, and so I'm really pumped. Uh every year there's maybe one idea sermon series that uh I don't know if you as a preacher feel this that like you just feel like this is my my thing for the year, and this is it for me this year. God's just given me a lot of clarity on what this looks like, and I'm pumped to bring it. So it's gonna be a great series.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, invite someone uh to that. And I I want you as we wrap up today, I want you to always be asking your questions. But also, I want you to ask your questions and then go seek and find answers, whether they're in a connect group, whether it's with your pastor, whether it's with a close confidant, but it's really diving into the word. Please don't ask your questions or find your questions or your answers through an Instagram reel that has to be 60 seconds from someone just spouting something off that you don't even know if they've done any research or anything about their life and where they live. It is healthy and it is good for us to ask questions about God. It is healthy and it is good for us to understand that our ways are not his ways, and our God is far greater than any answer we can give. And so sometimes there might even be an answer that we don't understand or an answer that's incomprehensible to us, and that doesn't change who God is and his love and magnitude of love for you and his grace for you today. Will everyone everywhere stand as we pray today, please? Hey God, thanks so much for the opportunity we have to ask about you, to learn more about you, to see your word at work within us. And so, Lord, whether we're asking for a friend or we're asking for ourselves, we know that we see in the scriptures people always asked, You even asked, Who do people say that I am? And so, Lord, it is healthy and it is good to ask questions of one another and of you. And so, always, Lord, give us clarity and certainty in that which we need to know. You are God, you lived, you died, and you rose. And as we live, your victory is our victory. And so, thank you for the gift of faith that we have that we can cling to you in the things known and unknown. And all God's people everywhere said, Amen and amen.
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