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Dominant Force: Keeping Christ First 0:01 Welcome to the men's global livestream. If you have a Bible, I want you to hold 2 passages, and they both have the number 10 in them. Hebrews chapter 10 and Matthew chapter 10. If you are joining us for the first time,0:11 welcome. We are in a series called Dominant Force. And in part 1 of Dominant Force, I answered the question, what is that? It's something that has0:23 primary influence, primary control, and primary authority in a given space. It's someone or it's it's something that dominates. And then I talked about how that relates to your0:35 relationship with God. And now in parts 2 through 5, we're exploring the 4 reasons that Jesus gave to his men to keep him number 1 in their0:47 lives as the dominant force, as their driver. And what he did is he shared 4 future realities. Like men, this is the reality of what's gonna0:58 happen. And because that's the reality of what's gonna happen, you can keep me, number 1, in the now. And so in part 2, we looked at how1:11 Christlikeness, Jesus says, will prevail in the authentic Christian. What does that mean? That means that you become like him in your character, and you will have1:23 the same experiences that he has, and we outlined what those experiences are. In part 3, we looked at the second future reality, which is that God's truth would prevail. The truth that1:35 we believe now, in the end, that is vindicated. Right? Every word that Jesus says, every promise that he makes, every truth that he claims,1:47 those will all be justified and validated in the end, which means that in the now, we can keep Christ number 1 in the dominant force in our lives. Today, in1:59 part 4, we're looking at the third certain future reality that Jesus shares with his guys. And to get us thinking in the right direction, let'sFuture Realities and Present Faith 2:10 talk about fear. Specifically, a healthy fear. Think about it. Without a healthy fear of fire, you can get third2:22 degree burns just like yours truly did when he was a kid. Alright? Without a healthy fear of lions. You're on the menu.2:34 You can become lunch without a healthy fear of electrified wires or sockets. Right? You can get lit up like a Christmas tree. You get the picture. Now,2:46 let's talk about a healthy fear of God and the consequences, right? Just like there were consequences of not having a healthy fear of fire or a lion or electrical wires, there2:58 are consequences to not having a healthy fear of God. You know, I always think about the classic scene in Chronicles of Narnia, C. S.3:09 Lewis's legendary classic work about the kingdom of Narnia and about how human beings are pulled in to this kingdom. 1 of those human beings is Lucy Pevensie.3:22 Right? This little girl. And she's getting sort of an education on how Narnia works from mister Beaver. And she comes upon3:33 Aslan, who is the king of this kingdom. Right? Aslan is the king of Narnia. And so she she asks mister Beaver, is3:45 he safe? And mister Beaver replies, who said anything about safe? Of course he's not safe, but he's good.3:57 He's the king, I tell you. Right? And I love that that metaphor and and fantasy, but here's the reality. Right? As Lewis is talking about the kingdom of4:09 God, who God is, he's the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the king of kings, the creator4:21 and ruler of the entire universe and beyond. Is he safe? Of course, he's not. But he's loving4:33 and he's good. So the translation to Lucy Pevensie, the translation of that supernatural truth to us is you have a healthy fear4:45 of a lion, you have a healthy fear of God, who is also the king, the Lord, the ruler of the universe, but you gotta4:57 know his character. Right? So you can have those 2 in there. In fact, the Bible is emphatic about fearing the Lord. It's in the Bible over a5:09 hundred times. It's not an unhealthy fear. It's simply acknowledging the reality of his nature, his person, and5:21 his character. Right? The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of many of you said it. Right? From Proverbs. It's the beginning of wisdom. Right? But you know what Jesus says is5:33 an unwise fear? The fear of men. And he had to prepare his guys for when he would leave and be gone. He had to sort5:44 of put this spiritual backbone inside of them to deal with the fear of men, which could potentially dilute5:57 him being the primary controller of their lives, the primary influence of their lives, and the primary authority of their lives. So let's talk about where we're6:09 headed in part 4 of dominant force. We're just gonna revisit as we do in parts 1 through 3. This theme, right, of because God prevails ultimately,6:21 right, we redirect our energy immediately, right, in the now. Then we're gonna look at that third future reality Jesus shares with his men in order to fortify his6:33 number 1 position in their lives until they meet him face to face. And then we're just gonna distill some thinking from God's word in light of what6:44 Jesus said. So let's let's revisit that theme. Since God prevails ultimately, how should that impact us? Right? In Matthew 16 verses 25 through 27, listen to what Jesus says. He6:56 says, if you try to hang on to your life, you'll lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world7:09 and lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? For the son of man will come with his angels in the glory of his father and will judge all7:20 people according to their deeds. So Jesus here is introducing the idea of spiritual risks in the now and the tension of that,7:32 what happens when you take them, and the ultimate outcome later. So spiritual risks in the now, what happens if you take them, and then what's the outcome later? And7:44 so we observe 4 simple things. You observe this tension connected to the risk of hanging on versus letting go. Alright? Jesus says, if you hang on to your life, in other words, if you try7:56 to control your life, if you try to be the the the director of your own life, you're gonna lose it. Right? You you pursue your plans, your8:08 right? You're gonna lose it. But if you give up, right, your life for my sake, you'll you'll save it. So there's that tension when you take a spiritual risk for God in the8:20 present, right, of hanging on, gonna control it, versus surrendering it and letting it go in faith and doing what God wants. Second, there's the tension of giving up8:32 now versus taking up later. Right? Gain the world. Right? Lose your soul. Right? If you want to take up your soul,8:44 which is your true self made in the image of God, and and experience that to the fullest, you're going to experience attention. Right? You're going to have to give up something to take up8:56 something else. Third, we see the tension of gaining now versus later. Right? There's this whole thing of now and later. Right? And the taking9:08 of spiritual risks. So I let go. Right? I give up now to take up later. I give up gaining selfishly now to gain9:20 eternally later. And then third, there's the tension of deeds now versus judgment later. Right? YOLO.9:32 You only live once. Okay. That's true. That's true in all contexts. But in terms of the decisions that we make, because we only live once, we can make those decisions and do deeds9:44 with our self interest in mind, or we can live our lives in light of this future reality. Right, and the future realities9:56 of reward and benefit and the gain of soul and the taking up of eternal life. Because all of us are headed to this point, Jesus says here, where the son of10:08 man will come with his angels in the glory of his father and will judge how many people? All people according to their deeds. So you see how, you know, our thinking drives our10:20 living and our deeds. Right? And so we have to have the right thinking. And again, the Bible is emphatic. Jesus is emphatic. It's like, man, use your time on earth to10:32 invest in your eternity. And there's gonna be a tension because you can serve yourself or you can serve the Lord. You can serve his purposes or your purposes. You can pursue your plans or10:43 his plans. Right? And then you're gonna take some actions and then those actions are gonna come under a judgment later. And God's not gonna judge him through the selfish filter. He's gonna judge him10:55 through the filter of the revelation that he has expressed to us in the present. Okay? Now, for men and women of faith, we see how11:08 our future with God drives the present. We see this especially in Hebrews chapter 11. Let's read that passage on your downloaded notes. Each 1 of these people of faith, k, there's11:19 the qualifier, died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the11:31 distance. They waved their greeting and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People passing through. People who live this way make it11:43 plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back anytime they wanted, but they were after a far better country than that, heaven country. You11:55 can see why God is so proud of them and has a city waiting for them. Just that whole picture reminds me of, you know, a traveler. I travel a lot. Maybe some of you guys travel a lot.12:07 And, making a connection. So say you're going from Southern California, connection in Dallas, your final destination and home is Atlanta. So12:19 you stop in Dallas, but you don't leave the airport and buy a house and start investing there and, you know, buy couches and TVs and all the other12:31 things. Why? Because it's a connection. It's not your final destination. Men, Earth is a connection. It's not your final destination,12:43 Even though we own homes and we invest here and all that stuff. But it's like a camping trip. Okay? It all goes back in the box. Every of you guys are campers. Right? It gets unloaded. It12:55 gets deployed, and then it all goes back. Right? You were created. You were deployed. Accessories were given for you to live this life. Right? But13:07 your mind and your heart is at home. Right? I cannot wait to get home when I'm traveling from overseas. I can't wait to get home when I'm traveling cross country. I can't wait to get13:19 home after a long trip. Why? Because that's where I reside. That's where I abide. That's where my family is. That kind of thinking, the Bible says, will keep God the dominant13:31 force in your lives. People of faith in Hebrews 11 encourage you to read that. They connected their future destination to their present and they13:42 didn't attach hard to where they didn't live and where they were not going to spend their forever. So that's just a good basis about how future reality drives present13:55 energy. And what we see in Hebrews 11 and in Matthew 16 is this. Write this down. When God is the dominant force in your life, dominant faith14:06 is the result. That's what we see in Hebrews chapter 11. Right? Spiritual risk taking on earth. Right? God prevails14:19 during the lives of these people mentioned in Hebrews 11. Not their feelings, not the culture they live in, not the opinions of men,14:32 but what God declares to be significant. Alright? So when God is the dominant force, dominant faith or spiritual risk taking parenthetically is the result. Okay?14:44 And we see how in Hebrews 11, God prevails. I wrote down the definition. It's gonna be there in in the next session too. To prevail means to prove more powerful than opposing forces to be victorious.14:56 Alright? Because God prevails in the future, God should prevail in the present. He should be the more powerful force in your life than other15:07 forces. Now that's called spiritual battle, but God should prevail. Why? Because there are certain future realities that he says are gonna happen, and we live in light of them. So now there's15:19 another basis. Let's get to Jesus's third reason. Okay? For his men to keep him number 1 during their time on earth and remaining the dominant force. AndGod's Eternal Plans and Glory 15:31 his third reason is this, God's eternal power and justice prevail. So Christ likeness, he says, is gonna prevail. God's truth will prevail in the end. Everything that is hidden will be15:43 made known. You'll be justified. Third, God's eternal power and justice, that prevails too. So be brave. Now listen to Jesus talk to his men. Do not be15:55 afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the 1 who can destroy both body16:07 and soul in hell. Matthew 10 28. K? What's Jesus saying? Alright? Write this down.16:19 Next filling. God's eternal ability shapes my present energy. Have a healthy fear of the 1 with16:30 more eternal capacity, the capacity that lasts forever, the capacity that's meaningful versus fearing people with temporal capacity. See, man can kill the16:42 body. He can't touch the soul. The soul is forever. The body goes in the grave. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Right? So who are we gonna fear? The 1 with16:54 temporal capacity, temporal power, temporal will, or the 1 with eternal power and capacity. Right? Now add17:06 to this what it says and to Jesus's word, what it says in Hebrews 10 29 through 31. We'll unpack it and make an observation about17:18 god. Says this, if we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truths we know Now, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice and are left on our own to17:30 face the judgment and a mighty fierce judgment it will be. If the penalty for breaking the law of Moses' physical death, what do you think will happen if you turn on god's17:41 son, spit on the sacrifice that made you whole, and insult this most gracious spirit? This is no light matter. God has warned us17:53 that he'll hold us to account and make us pay. He was quite explicit. Quote, vengeance is mine and I won't overlook a thing and God will judge his people.18:05 Nobody's getting by with anything. Believe me. Wow. Just reminds me of that that famous18:16 Charles Spurgeon line. There is no better cure for the fear of man than the fear of God. Right? Man18:29 has no ability in eternity. Right? And that fact should drive our present energy. Right? There's Jesus18:41 saying it there in Matthew 10 28. Here's god's word saying it in Hebrews 10 29 to 31. Well, what's Jesus saying? And you go with whoever's holding18:53 the bigger punch. And when it comes to your eternity, god holds the bigger punch. Now, add to this, next point on your notes, man's earthly priorities19:05 perish before heavenly entry. God's priorities, they extend right now and into eternity. Man's plans may be operating now but they don't. Listen to what the19:17 Psalmist says. He says, I will praise the lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my god with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in powerful19:28 people. There's no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to Earth and all their plans die with them. So what do we see?19:41 Well, we see God's person and plans are to be praised and man's person and plans are to be questioned. Why? Because they19:53 die with them. So whose plans are you gonna go with? The 1 whose plans last forever or the 1 whose plans don't? Where are you gonna shove all your chips20:05 to the table? So because that is true, even the most brilliant of man's plans I mean, just think about the greatest inventions, the greatest technologies, the greatest, you know, people, the great20:17 and all their plans. Alright? When they die, their plans die with them. The only plan that survives and goes on is God's plan, and you can connect with God's plan now and stay connected and20:29 ride God's plan right into eternity. Amen? That is what God's man does. God's man rides God's plan right into eternity.20:42 And because God's plan extends past this life and goes into eternity, that's where we put our confidence in the person behind the plans that last20:54 forever. Okay. So God's plan goes forever. That drives our present energy. Man's plans perish,21:05 alright, before heavenly entry. Add to this your next point. Write this down. God's eternal glory drives my earthly story. So not just it's not just about,21:17 okay, who wins in the end and who holds the bigger punch and whose plans last forever. It's about our decision, right, to21:29 emphasize not just God's eternal priorities, but God's eternal glory right now. And that drives my story right now. We can start living for God's glory, which it also extends. His21:40 plans extend, but his glory extends right into eternity. Listen to second Corinthians chapter 4 verses 15 to 18 from God's word. Paul is coaching, believers and he says for for all21:52 things are for your sake, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore,22:04 we do not lose heart, but But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day for momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far22:16 beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seeing seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. There's that tension, but the things which are not seen22:28 are eternal. So what is the encouragement that Paul is giving to all followers of Jesus Christ? He's saying, start glorifying God now. Yeah. It's gonna be hard. Yeah. You're gonna encounter some22:40 opposition. Yeah. You might have to discipline yourself. Yeah. You might have to give up. You might have to lose some things, but you're gonna take up. So start glorifying God now because it goes with us,22:53 forever. It's a picture of a cruel. So, god's plans go with us forever. We start glorifying god right now. We take that eternal weight of glory. Right23:05 into us doing it, forever. Right? Now what's what's interesting is that you have Earth versus heaven. On Earth,23:17 there's opposition. Right? There's the world, the flesh, and the devil that's in opposition to you glorifying God right now, with your choices, where you live, where you work, where you pray, where you23:29 play. In your context, there's opposition, which makes your decision meaningful. Alright? That's the context. The context makes it meaningful.23:41 So when I make a choice against pressure and opposition to glorify God while I'm alive on earth today, tomorrow, the rest of the week, month, year,23:52 whole life, when I make a decision to glorify God, that has meaning. Why? Because in heaven, there is no opposition. Right? That's the occupation of heaven.24:04 There is no opposition in heaven. Here there's opposition. So the context of earth makes your decision for God, for his plans, for his purposes, for him remaining the dominant force in your24:16 life, under pressure, gives those choices and those decisions that you make for Christ in all dimensions of your life, in the big and small spaces,24:28 meaning. Right? God's looking down. It's like, man, he's choosing me under pressure. He's pressured to choose himself. He's pressured to choose what people think. He's pressured to go with what culture's doing. Lot of24:39 pressure. Look. He's standing in the fire. He's standing in battle. He's making a decision for me. Some of you needed to hear that right now. Alright. Without the pressure, there's no meaning. Without24:51 Earth as the theater for your faith decisions, there's no meaning. In heaven, it's just the occupation. K? It has that meaning. We're just25:03 acknowledging reality, but there's not any pressure, right, coming against us doing that. On earth, there is and that's what God is watching. That's what25:15 God delights in. Guys, that's why we're doing this series. And some of you needed to hear that. Right? That's why Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God25:28 and his righteousness, and all these things, they'll be added to you. That's why Jesus says in John 17 4, I have glorified you here on Earth,25:40 right? Where he would be tempted, where he would be opposed, where there would be political forces and social forces, right? And cultural forces coming against him and25:52 yet each time he would choose god. He would have spiritual integrity in the moment. He would be fearless. He would break the rules to touch the ethnically unacceptable, the the26:04 racially unacceptable, the physically unacceptable, the morally unacceptable, to show compassion, to be the friend of drunk, drunkards and gluttons and sinners.26:16 Right? Breaking the rules to love and to glorify God. Alright? Some of you are at a crossroads. I know it. Some of you are encountering26:28 major spiritual battle right now to glorify God. And in Jesus' name, I just bless you with the shield of faith. Our the community of men right now in this this global26:40 livestream, we're just gonna raise a shield of faith around you. We're gonna come around you, and we're gonna raise a shield of faith. And we declare right now in Jesus' name for our brothers who are struggling and26:50 battling, and they know they need to glorify God. We just raise a shield of faith that will extinguish the flaming missiles of the enemy in Jesus' name. Amen. You see, that's what a community of27:02 men do. We battle for each other. You're in a battle. I'm in a battle. You need my prayers. I need your prayers. So we just covered for you guys out there who are really under27:14 attack. We just covered you. Walk in power. Choose to glorify God. Right? Choose to glorify God. That's your story. That's Jesus's story. I glorified you on earth. This is27:26 Jesus. Jesus is in you. This is you. Alright? Now add to this your next villain. Man's earthly glory repeats27:39 Satan's heavenly tragedy. Alright? Now here, I just want you to see the parallels of of what's going on. So if you chase glory here on earth, you're gonna repeat27:51 Satan's heavenly tragedy. That's described in Isaiah chapter 14. Listen, to the heavenly tragedy. For you are fallen from heaven, oh28:03 shining star, son of the morning. You have been thrown down to earth. You who destroyed the nations of the world. For you said to yourself, I will ascend to heaven and28:15 set my throne above god's stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be28:27 like the most high. Woah. You see, when we seek earthly glory, right, versus eternal glory,28:39 we repeat Satan's tragedy, privilege, position, visibility, credit, achievement, and the taking of the28:50 glory of God because in the end, any glory that comes to you, he's the source of. So we recycle that and we give it to God. That was Satan's job.29:04 His job before he fell, right, he was in charge of worship and directing the glory to God, but then and this this happens to us. He's like,29:16 I want a little bit of that for me. And he embezzled God's glory. He wasn't the source of glory. Can I just say something? Some of you need to be reminded of that. Right? Just29:28 like I do. That even though you are high achievers, high performers, or maybe you get a lot of credit at work, in your family, or just in your social life at large.29:39 Anything good that you do, you're not the source of that. You're the agent of that, but you're not the source. Why? Because God gave you your mind. God gave you your body. God gave you29:51 your ability to think, reason, plan things, be entrepreneurial, work hard, be resourceful. God's behind every good thing in your life. God's30:03 behind every success in your life. Glory to God. Give it up. Give the glory where it's due. Satan's problem, he thought he was the source.30:15 Wow. So doesn't that give you a little insight that, you know, his tragedy is also his strategy? Get men30:27 to want to ascend like he did. Get men to want to be like the most high. Get men to think they're the author of their own successes.30:39 Get men to be their own master and commander. That's a strategy. And when you think of pride30:51 and embezzling God's glory and his tragedy, just think, well, that's that's what he continues to do. His failure, he wants that, his failure to be our failure. For he wants31:02 us to make the same mistake. Right? Now, here's the just side note. Here's the interesting thing. We're gonna take his place in heaven. We're the ones who are gonna be worshiping God. And we're31:14 gonna give the credit where credit is due, but don't repeat that tragedy here on earth. Right? That that was a heavenly tragedy. It's in the bible. Study it. We look at it and we go, not making the same31:26 mistake as Satan. Now, to all of what we've just talked about, add to this, right, your next villain. God's eternal kingdom31:38 and reign will last forever. Okay? Now this is just like the icing on the cake. This is the the rivets that are gonna seal up this truth in your spirit.31:50 Listen to Revelation chapter 5 verses 11 through 13. Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the32:02 elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus. Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor32:13 and glory and blessing. And then I heard every creature in heaven and under earth and under the earth and in the sea, They sang,32:25 blessing and honor and power belong to the 1 sitting on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.32:37 Wow. Forever and ever. Forever and ever. So what's so cool about what we're learning in scripture today32:50 is that god's plans are forever and ever. God's glory is forever and ever. God's kingdom is forever and ever, and we get to participate33:02 in all those right now. And the level to which we participate in God prevailing forever, God's plans that last forever, God's33:14 glory, which can drive our earthly story. Right? And God's kingdom, which goes on forever and ever. How we choose to live in that and for that33:27 right now determines our eternity. Right? And so we discipline ourselves on Earth to live for God's plans, to to live for God's33:38 glory, to advance his kingdom. That's why Jesus came. He announced the kingdom's here. And to advance his kingdom. Right? Because God's eternal kingdom and reign lasts33:50 forever. Now let's button it up. Alright? Because in contrast, man's earthly privilege write this down. Man'sShow more In this video 0:00 Dominant Force: Keeping Christ First2:01 Future Realities and Present Faith15:23 God's Eternal Plans and Glory33:52 Living for God's KingdomComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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