Skip to content Freedom comes from serving a worthy King Apr 24 · 42 min ...more
Freedom comes from serving a worthy King
April 24, 2025 · 42 min
Pastor Ken Graves passionately addresses the congregation, emphasizing their identity as part of God's kingdom and the importance of being proactive in their faith.
Series The BRAVE Way Podcast April 24, 2025 · 42 min · The BRAVE Way Podcast
Pastor Ken Graves passionately addresses the congregation, emphasizing their identity as part of God's kingdom and the importance of being proactive in their faith. ...more Show the full description Show less Pastor Ken Graves passionately addresses the congregation, emphasizing their identity as part of God's kingdom and the importance of being proactive in their faith.
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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The Call to Worship and Obedience 0:04 Brothers. Hey, will you, will you do this, for me before we go into the scripture? Let's do a little cadence. So I'll give you the line and0:16 all you gotta do is echo the line. Let's get back on our feet. Stand with me. Let's just do this, but you gotta clap at the same time and you gotta do it like men.0:28 Alright. So we're gonna go, hail Jesus, your mind came. Hail Jesus, your mind came. Your life frees me to sing. I0:40 will praise you all my days.0:45 You're perfect in all your ways.0:48 Perfect in all your ways.0:49 Tell Jesus you're my lord.0:52 Tell Jesus you're my lord.0:54 And I will obey your word.0:59 I wanna see your kingdom come. Not my will, but yours be done.1:09 Hell, hell, lion of Judah. How wonderful you are. How wonderful you are.1:17 How wonderful you are.1:18 Hell, hell, lion of Judah. How powerful you are. Come on, man. Glory glory to the1:32 lamb.1:33 You take me into the land. We will conquer in your name. And proclaim that Jesus reigns.1:45 Yeah.1:46 That Jesus reigns.1:48 Hell, hell, lion of Judah. Hell, hell,1:51 lion of Judah.1:52 How wonderful you are. How1:55 wonderful you are.1:57 Hell, hell, lion of Judah. How powerful you are.2:05 How powerful2:06 you are.2:07 And how powerful you are.2:12 And how2:12 powerful you are.2:12 And how powerful you are. Amen. Amen. Yeah.2:26 I may have a seat, brothers. Manfully done.The Kingdom of God and the Power of Scripture 2:44 Let me remind you or or maybe inform you, it may be that some of you are not aware of this, it may be. That we,2:56 my brothers, are part of the kingdom of God. This is not the people's democratic republic of God. We3:07 have our king. We have a king. He's he's a worthy, worthy king.3:15 Come on.3:15 He's he is and by the way, he would speak to each of us. He would speak to you as a son.3:28 He calls his subjects friends, that's the kind of king he is. The primary way, pastor just just laid it out, the3:40 primary means of communication from him to you. He's he's going to text you. He3:51 has in fact texted you. Daily, he would text you. The primary means of his communication to you and4:03 I is going to be in written form. So I have to say and I say this as your friend, you got to stop being4:15 lazy with regard to the sword of the spirit. God's word is God's sword. You've got to handle it. You've got to get4:27 comfortable with it. You have got to make it yours. Casual Christian living on4:39 junk food. Occasionally being spoon fed. That's not what you're called to be, that's not who God created you to be, but so much more and you settled.4:51 So I urge you as a friend, repent. Repent of your laziness And also and stop treating this like some like some kind5:03 of a buffet. Some kind of a buffet because you know what we do at the buffet. We go down the line and we we select. We load up a little of this, a little5:15 of that. Just a little of this. None of it none of that. We skip all kinds of things at the buffet until we come to the roast beef. Right?5:28 And that's the place where we're gonna get our money's worth and then some. And that's the place at the buffet the only place at the buffet, the only station where they5:40 have somebody manning the tools. So it's the only place where they're gonna have somebody going, would you you know, you stop and go, would you like some of this? And you go, that's why I'm here. And5:52 they'll go slice and go, there you go. And you go, no I don't. Give me more. Nobody they don't man the 3 bean6:04 salad at at the buffet. But if you're treating the word this way, A. W. Tozer said, there's a little heretic6:16 in every 1 of us and you can tell it by how we underline and high and I'm not I don't think Tozer was saying anything against highlighting your6:27 bible. But he said, but what about what's on the other side of your highlighting? What about all the stuff you've not highlighted? It is all relevant. It is all from God. It is your6:39 it's your diet. You want to be healthy spiritually, you've got to start treating this as a whole. A whole. It is an integrated message system6:51 that God has in his wisdom. He has equipped us with. The question is what are we doing with it? Now would you take it and7:03 turn to second Timothy 3 for just a moment, my brothers. Now, we probably not met before and just for theIdentity and the Call to Manhood 7:14 record, I'm nobody, but I serve this king. This king I gotta tell you about. Again, even though you may know him and you7:26 may know him well. You may know him better than me, but I'm still gonna tell you about it. Because, you know in the ancient world you guys understand how the law of God did not abolish slavery with the covenant people7:38 but instead, God with the law turned slavery into the means to becoming part of a family. The whole law with regard7:50 to a bond slave. The first time in the layout of the law that the word love appears is in context of the bond slave. If8:02 a slave is served his term and it was all limited by the year of jubilee and he was given his freedom, and such a slave said,8:14 please don't set me free and love my master. And what kind of slave loves his master? The kind that has been loved by his master. The8:26 slave that says, I have enjoyed a higher standard of living. I have wielded more power8:38 serving this master. The people that I love, my family have been cared for. In fact, think about this for just a second in a modern sort of application. Imagine a company that8:49 values you and says we you come work for us and we'll provide your housing, your education, all your medical needs, all your food, everything and security.9:02 And and and you are then free to just focus on that 1 thing that you're good at and you can even get better at it. And we'll build something here. We'll build a team. That9:14 was the intention of Yahweh with regard to the covenant people that they would treat slavery in that way that a master would be so wise in the use of those human9:26 resources that when the opportunity for them to be free came, they would say, no thank you. That brothers is how the apostles identified themselves9:38 bond slaves. Bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ancient world, by the way, then, following, a ceremony9:50 involving the elders. That slave would lay his earlobe on that doorpost of his master's house. I presume it was the right. I don't know. And they would drive a spike through that earlobe creating a10:02 hole right into the doorpost of his master's house. What a statement. What a statement. And that hole then has to be filled with that gold ring. Do you understand in this arrangement that God created,10:15 there were men walking around town with a ring that made them enviable. A ring in their ear that said, I got it good.10:27 I got it better than most of you free men. This the kind of master that I have is 1 that I had the chance to be free from and I said, no thank you.10:39 Please don't let me be free from you. And such slaves would live often a higher standard of living and wield more power10:51 than many of the so called free men in that arrangement that God created for the covenant people. I am an old man11:03 that was apprehended by this king, by Christ when I was young. He captured me. He captured me by divine revelation.11:15 Captured my heart. He won me just I I He he he called me. He revealed himself to me in such a way from the holy11:27 scriptures that I could imagine no other life except serving him. Second Timothy 3, you are11:39 probably aware of this last days prophecy from Paul to Timothy. I wanna draw your attention to something about that. So I'm not really wanting so much to talk about prophecy although I'm real into it11:51 or the last days or we are way into them. This, Paul said, this know also that in the last days perilous12:02 times shall come. Perilous times, dangerous times. I think the LSB translates it difficult times will come.12:15 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,12:28 without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent fears, despisers of those that are good. Traitors,12:41 heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. This is interesting.12:53 Perilous times come in the last days not because of anything going on in nature. It's not because of man made climate change.13:05 Perilous times come not because of anything that might be likely to collide with our planet from space. Although those things are gonna happen13:17 in the judgment of God unleashed upon this earth. In the last days, perilous times come because of what men are.13:29 Perilous times come because of what men are. That description of what men are, they make perilous13:41 times. Those kind of men make perilous times. My question, brothers, men of God, men of the kingdom. An13:53 interesting study, as a matter of fact, I'd recommend this 1. I would recommend that every 1 of you spend time alone with what we just read. You can look around the world and see it's an apt description14:06 of modern humanity here in the west. You can look around and see goodness the description of the so called social media14:19 influencers and the fools that follow them and try to emulate them. They're described right there, but a real worthy study14:30 is on every single 1 of those adjectives that describe what men are, who create perilous times. Study it, and prayerfully consider14:43 what would the exact opposite of all of that look like for that is what we are called to, brothers. That is what we're called to, Identity.14:57 Do you know who you are? Do you know what you're called to be? The only way you and I are gonna actually know who it is we're supposed to be. Pastor Jeff kept15:09 nailing, kept using the word. The word that just keeps going over and over in my heart and has been is identity. What kind of15:20 men should we be? Look at this 1. Go back with me to Nehemiah the sixth chapter. Look at this.15:34 Nehemiah chapter 6. Nehemiah, he's just a man. He's like us. But he's a man that has been called, a man that has a relationship with Yahweh, with the God of creation.15:49 Yahweh has set him up, giving him a great task. He has enemies. They they oppose16:01 him and they engage in a campaign to try to generate fear in Nehemiah's heart. Nehemiah chapter16:12 6 verse 1. Now it came to pass when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshim the Arabian and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the16:24 wall. And then there was no breach left therein though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates that Sinballat and Gisham sent unto me saying, come let16:36 us meet together in villages of the plains of Ono, but they thought to do me mischief. Now skip down to verse 10 for the sake of time. I hate16:48 skipping verses, but I got a plane to catch. Verse 10, afterward I came to the house of Shemaiah, the son of Elia, the16:59 son of Mahdaviel who was shut up. He was shut up. Yeah, man. He was he was locked in. He was hiding. He was,17:11 experiencing a lockdown. He said, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple and let us shut the doors of the temple for they will come to slay thee.17:23 Yay, in the night they will come to slay thee. Look at Nehemiah's response, men. Nehemiah said, I said, should such a man as I17:35 flee? Should such a man as I flee? The question that Nehemiah asks rhetorically17:48 is would that be an appropriate action? Would that fit who I am supposed to be? Nehemiah has an understanding18:00 of his identity, who he is. He said, and who is there? That being as I am would go into the temple to save his life. I will not18:13 go in. I will not. Bruce 12 and lo I foresee that God had not sent him, but then he pronounced this prophecy18:25 against me for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore, he was hired that I should be afraid and do so and sin and that they might have a manner for18:37 an evil report that they might reproach me. Nehemiah brothers, He determined what action would18:49 fit who he is and who he is as a servant of the most high God. Made it simple because he knew who he19:01 was. He knew what to do and what not to do just like you, pastor Jeff. My kind of pastor. Then when the orders came down19:14 and the fear campaign, which was it's unbelievable. Government sanctioned. Intimidation19:26 campaign. Lying to us about so many things but presuming to determine that our gatherings were non essential.19:38 And most of the pastors in this nation agreed with that. God have mercy upon them and take them to the woodshed.19:52 If you know who you are, then you know what to do. I'm so blessed to get acquainted with my kind of pastor who20:04 stands under the authority of 1 sovereign, 1 king. There was only like you guys, we engaged in civil disobedienceThe Divine Design and Gender Roles 20:16 and maintained our course. There was 1 cowboy, Cherish, down in Texas. Well, that pastor,20:29 he outdid us all, Jeff. He called the press conference, got the press there, tied a rope to those wooden doors of the church house, put it on his20:41 saddle horn and rip them off, and then set them on fire. As a statement, these doors will not be locked.20:53 They will not be closed. Oh, what a20:59 I21:00 only wish I had thought of it. My dear brothers, divine revelation,21:13 the scriptures revealed to you and I. In the very beginning of this integrated message system from God, God texted21:25 us that he made us a complex combination of spirit and matter. We are as and the quotable C. S. Lewis would describe us, we are21:37 amphibious because we are spirit and we are matter. Genesis 2 7, profound statement. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth and breathed into21:49 his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Triune God was father, son and holy spirit, creates a22:01 universe that reflects his triunity. A universe that is time, space and matter. He created us to likewise reflect that triunity that we are spirit22:13 and we are matter and our soul. We are in fact a trichotomy, spirit, soul and body. Our mind exists right between those 222:24 sides, those 2 substances that we're made of, spirit and matter. And we will either live carnally minded or spiritually minded as even the new testament teaches us.22:36 Romans chapter 8. That's not the only thing that scripture reveals about you and me. Because the scriptures also tell us in Genesis chapter 2,22:48 what God did to bring woman into existence. And I make much of what he did not do. Let me please. Let me draw your attention to what God did not do. God did23:00 not repeat Genesis 2 7 in order to make Eve. God made Adam forming him out of the dust of the ground, breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. Men became a living skull. God did23:12 not repeat that to make her. Why? I'll tell you why. Because she was already there in a in a very real23:24 sense. She already existed for she is half of who that man was. The lord god put that man into a deep sleep23:37 and divided him into 2. I know our English translation. This isn't the Lord God took a rib,23:48 the very Hebrew word that we translate ribbon, I don't pretend to be a Hebrew scholar, far from a scholar. I know a little Hebrew, He runs a bagel shop in24:00 Bangor and, very little. But I can use the dictionary. Guys, that was a lame joke. That was absolute absolutely lame. I'm24:12 I'm ashamed of you for laughing at it. However, I know a little Greek here runs a pizza place and, however, I've I've looked at I've dug into this in the same24:24 word we translate rib. I think it's best translated side. Well side, God made that man Adam in his image. The image24:36 of God and he took that man and divided him into 2 people. 2 very different people. Similar,24:48 very different. He took 1 and tore him into 2 in such a way that the 2 can become 1. And there is a sense, a very real sense in which25:00 the the very likeness of God is best seen. And a man and woman completing 1 another. Begging up what the other does not have.25:13 There are differences between us. Oh brothers, you I don't need to preach to you that there are only 2 genders, only 2 sexes. That you're either man or woman.25:24 That's it. There's nothing in between. Oh, this this, sick twisted thinking of a post Christian western civilization25:37 that has created all these in betweens that do not exist. There's nothing between male and female. I do submit to you25:50 that there is something that I, well I I kind of refer to it as the mister scale. It's You know, there there's varying degrees of masculinity. We would have to26:02 agree. There's there's like a spectrum. Right? On 1 end, gentler men.26:15 They They're they're Alright. Let me let me put it this way. And I don't have a new I don't have a newer updated mister to use So I still gotta go with mister Rogers.26:28 Now you get young guys, you don't even know who that was, but he he was a nice guy. He he did children's television and you know, he was cool.26:40 There was a time when I was a little boy that I was really impressed with that guy. That he could sing and change into his sweater and change his shoes and do all this and he would take26:52 the time to do it. I wasn't impressed by him. But I gotta admit, I never 1 time in my early childhood ever thought, I'm gonna be just like mister27:04 Rogers. So if we if we and this is dated too. If we put mister Rogers on 1 end of the spectrum, on the other end of the spectrum, I put mister t. Okay?27:16 The other mister and I'm not talking about old fat Hollywood mister t. I'm talking about young lean mister t who was a sparring partner for Muhammad Ali getting ready for that fight with Joe Frazier. Now that was a that27:27 was a tough guy. Alright. Most men, most of us, the vast majority of us are sort of in the middle. We're not way down on the gentleman27:38 end. We're not all the way up on the viking end. Some of us are. I I think it does. I look around this room, there's a disproportionate27:51 number of them here today and it's good. But God made us strong, not to pick on the guys on the other end of the28:02 mister snail. But but they're men. I I believe that and and you know the really cool thing is, our king is all up and down that spectrum.28:15 Whatever the situation demands, he is a king who will absolutely crush the head of the serpent in fulfillment of the prophecy, Genesis 3 15.28:27 But a bruised reed he will not break. And I also believe that a spirit filled man who follow him, we likewise ought to travel up and down the28:39 masculinity spectrum. I'll I'll I'll add to that. The differences between men and women,28:51 and there are many. The average man's body is according to the observable science, the average man's body is about29:03 40 percent muscle mass. The average female's body is about 20 to 25 percent. So basically half of the muscle mass of the average man. Man, I'm29:15 thankful for change in leadership in this country. They can they can actually acknowledge that the most outrageous things have been done in in the name of29:27 what about vulkeness is madness. Anyway, so men are physically way stronger than than women and we're supposed to be.29:39 God equipped us that way. We are supposed to be strong on their behalf. If you take that differential where men are are29:51 generally twice the muscle mass and twice the strength of the of the woman, I say to you, take that same differential and30:03 switch the numbers. Reverse them when it comes to the depth of emotion. You hoo brothers need to know that they've got you know30:14 this. They've got big, big feelings. Huge, enormous, frightening feelings. You,30:27 bro, you got little feelings. The only 1 that really gets big is anger. Your30:38 feelings are little in case nobody told you your feelings are little so shut up about them. Shut up about them. It's boys that go on and on announcing like some kind of30:50 audio sprinkler their feelings. Oh, may I say on that, before I run out of town, let me just say 1 more thing. There's a this this tweeny thing.31:04 You're either a man or a woman according to the scripture. Not only that, the scripture creates no in betweens. You're either a boy31:16 or a man. Scripture does not acknowledge any such thing as adolescence. It does not exist. In God's economy and in the ancient cultures, you had a31:28 right of passage. Sadly, we've abandoned those. You had a rite of passage and that rite of passage was significant because it was your father who was to welcome you31:40 across a line. The apostle Paul spoke in first Corinthians chapter 13. And he said, when I was a child, this, when I became a man, this other. I put away childish things.31:55 Modern society has abandoned this and there are so many that were never ushered across that line. They're in their thirties. They go32:07 to work but then they they come home and get in a gaming chair, pick up a controller and still live in the world of make believe and play.32:22 If I if I just describe you, you need to repent. Put down that toy. Pick up a tool. There there is no in between. If32:34 you have never been given that right of passage and you've spent seasons wondering, what is the deal with me? Why do I still why is this boy inside me still calling the shots?32:49 You may well need to have that moment between you and your father in heaven. He provided that for me. He provides that oh, man. He Can I point out to youShow more In this video 0:00 The Call to Worship and Obedience2:28 The Kingdom of God and the Power of Scripture7:05 Identity and the Call to Manhood20:09 The Divine Design and Gender Roles32:56 The Ultimate Sacrifice and Call to Serve
The Church Hell Can't Stop
Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub
Nov 8
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