The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 5: Anger Management

Episode Date: May 9, 2021

Exploitation in the name of religion angers God. He did not come to take from His people, but to give His life for them. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

So I dig her up. We didn't go to church every Sunday, but we would go to vacation Bible school. We didn't do a lot of going to church. We just, I don't know, I just knew about it a lot through the Bible school. That was the main thing that we would do growing up. In 2018, November, I was diagnosed with the ALS or L. Lugaric's disease, but the doctors say it is. So it's 100% fatal.

They say two to five years from diagnosis. I also have the gene that is an SOT1 gene. So we found out that my daughter has a 50% chance of getting that as well. Honestly, after my diagnosis, so many Besides, so many people live here just at the perfect timing. I just had this kind of peace that it's not going to be okay. Even though, you know, I know what the doctor says,

but at the same time, I just had this, a hope. Don't move your hair. And I know that God sent me my daughter, the perfect timing, you know. Because I don't know. If I could do all of it without her crazy, and the circumstance, you know, that happened. It seems like it's really bad, but at the same time, Jesus, what he has done for us is to what he's gone through

is so much worse than what I'm going through. did I think that I just really needed to him there I know I've needed it for a long time but it's just I need him right now I want to get baptized

because I want my family and my friends to know the relationship that I have with God that all he's done for me if I were to you know end up in heaven sooner than later, I want to know that everybody is going to be there with me someday. Amen, amen. Church,

this is Tesla. Tesla, as I was listening to your story, I thought of Jesus's words in John 11. And he says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And the truth is that none of us in here know how much time we have. But the most important things, about life is that we would give glory to Jesus with every breath. And I want to thank you for doing that by sharing your story with us. Thank you. So I've got a question for you, okay? Who is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Amen. It is based on that. Your public proclamation of Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. It's my privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. If you got your Bibles, grab them.

John chapter 2, I want to ask you a question. How do you measure a move of God? I mean, how do you recognize a move of God? We call this thing a movement for all people to discover a deep in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And how do you know when God is on the move? Because I'm telling you, the moment we stepped into this John series, I feel like the Lord is up to something. I feel like, because remember the first week, I opened it up and I said, I want you to love the Word of God. And it's not for the word's sake, little W, plural words,

it's for the word's sake, capital W, apostrophe S, for the word, like the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And church, I'm just telling you, God seems to be up to something lately. Because one of the ways that you know that God's on the move is because people get saved. Last weekend, 106 people surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Since Easter, over 500 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Amen? in? Part of the reason Tesla wanted to go ahead and get baptized is because she is losing the

ability to speak, and she wanted to make sure that she could say out loud, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. There is a move of God going on right now. Praise God. But it's not just that. It's not just people getting saved. It's also strongholds get broken. And that's what we're going to talk about today. Happy Mother's Day, I got nothing for you except this, okay? Grab your Bible, John chapter 2. Here we go. This week's sermon is very nice. different than last week. Last week, we're at a party. This week we're at a fight. If you grew up where I'm from, it's called family reunion. All right, here we go. John chapter two, beginning in verse 13. The Bible says this, the Passover of the Jews was at hand. The Passover is the largest

celebration of the Jewish people. One time of year, all of the people would gather in Jerusalem. There were about maybe a quarter of a million people that lived in Jerusalem on a regular day, but when Passover would get here, it would grow somewhere between historians. aren't exactly sure, at least a million, maybe up to two million people. Everybody was coming. It was like Georgia, Florida. You know what I'm saying? Everybody coming to the Holy Land to make sacrifice.

That was what was happening. And so there's all kinds of people there. And what they're celebrating, the Passover, we talked about this several times, is this was back when God told Moses, Moses, go to Pharaoh and tell him, let my people go. And Pharaoh wasn't having it. And so God sent plague after plague after plague, ten plagues. And every single one of the plagues was to squish a little G Egyptian God. And then the last plague, Moses tells Pharaoh that an angel of death is coming through Egypt

and he's going to take every firstborn. And then God says, but you go tell my people, you take a perfect spotless lamb and you slay at the blood of the lamb and you put it on the doorpost of your house. And whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of your house, the angel of death will pass over. And they've been waiting on this lamb to show up. They've been celebrating the Passover. And so I'm sure Moses goes back to his family and he's like, hey, son, we've got to go get

a perfect spotless lamb and shed its blood and put it on our doorpost. And I'm sure the boy was like, what's that lamb done? It's not his fault. And then dad goes, well, it's either you or the lamb. And the boy's like, come here, lamb. Come here, lamb. Come on, come on, come on. And every year, from that year to this year,

they have been looking for this lamb. That's what's going on. Everybody has gathered around. The Passover of the Jews was at hand. and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now last week he was in Canaan of Galilee, and if you look at the maps, it looks like you would go down, but this is about topography.

Jerusalem is on the highest point in Israel, on Mount Moriah. So no matter where you are, you have to go up to the Holy City. I hope you'll come to Israel with me one day. It's crazy. We walk around for 12 days, go uphill the whole time, some sort of miraculous geographical feat. Verse 14, in the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons.

and the money changers sitting there. Now, one of the things I need you to know, by the way, if you've been around Bible study, you know what's going to happen. Jesus is going to clear out the temple. The fact that they were selling stuff in the temple makes him very angry, and he's going to get violently angry,

like whipping them out of the temple angry. Now, the question is why? Because when you look at it, the fact that things were being sold in and of themselves, I don't think there's a problem. And the reason I don't think there's a problem there is because this is the way God set it up. We talked about it briefly last week, but in Deuteronomy chapter 14, this is what God says about worship one day.

Verse 22, he says, you shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And what he's saying is you should bring to God your first and your best, your tithe. And then he instructs them on what you do with it. Verse 23, and before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose. Now this is in Deuteronomy, they're wandering around in the desert. He's going to choose Jerusalem. He's talking about the tabernacle that will become the temple. And so in the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there,

and you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. And if the way is too long for you, like if the place where I choose to put my name, which again we know will be the temple in Jerusalem. If it's a long ways off so that you are not able to carry the tithe, then the Lord of your God blessed you

because the place is too far from you which the Lord of your God chooses to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord of your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire. Oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves,

and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice in your household. In other words, like if you live, if you don't live like in the Holy City of Jacksonville and you live way out like Jessup or Palacca or wherever, okay, and you can't tote your ox all the way to Jerusalem, no problem, man, just sell your ox there at home, then bring your cash, and when you get to the city where the temple will be, we will have it set up for you so that you can purchase your sacrifice there, and then no problem, okay? By the way, notice all you see here, you see like ox and sheep and strong drink and wine. Ain't a portabella mushroom in here to be sacrificed. Can I get a witness?

I know some of them are like, I'm a vegetarian, not for long, not if you're in Christ. The Bible says when we get to heaven, choice meats and fine wine. So, boo-ya, that's what's happening up there. All right, so. And then notice what you're supposed to do with it. You're supposed to buy these things. You're supposed to have a feast. You're supposed to eat. and drink and rejoice you in your household. You know what that sounds like to me? That sounds like a party. That sounds like a party.

Do you know that the Bible instructs us that when we get together in Jesus' name, it's supposed to be a party? You ever been to church that felt more like a funeral? Then you ain't doing it right. And some of the I need to tell you this because you look like you were weaned on a pickle. You're like, all right, you've got to get over yourself.

Listen, it felt like a party in here this morning to me. And here's how I know some of you don't know it. When we sing the word, alaelujah, you know what that word comes from? It's two Hebrew words. One word is halal. Halal means to lift up your hands. Try that real quick. Everybody in the house.

Raise your hand. See, it works. See, look. You can do it. I promise, all right? And Yahweh is the name of God. Halal means to lift your hands, to spin around, to jump up and down. So if you're doing like this, allelu.

You're not doing it right. You aren't doing it right. It's supposed to be a party. That's all right. Apparently I got a lot more work to do than I thought. Okay. So, now, so then why? If God set it up that way, if you live a long way from the temple, you can just buy your sacrifice when you get there.

If that's how God set it up, then why is Jesus angry? Why is he angry? Well, I think there's a couple of reasons. One is that it's pretty easy to deduce that I think the money changers and the people selling the offerings, what they were doing is they were actually using the system that God had made up for his worship to defraud God's people. that they were overcharging for, they were overcharging for the sacrifices. And a part of the reason we know this is because in Matthew chapter 21,

Jesus says this, it is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. You see, the reason that God set this thing up this way, one of the best ways to understand the scripture is simply these words, God with us. That when God created humanity,

that was the point. For the glory of God, wanted to live life with us. There's one God and three persons, God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, God creates human beings, and He creates us in His image. That means that we have the capacity to give and receive love,

but not just with one another, also with Him. And so when He creates humankind, they are together in the garden. And then sin separates. And then as a response to that, God sets up the sacrificial system, the temple system, that blood would be shed for the covering of sin so that God's people could be in his very presence, God, with us. And now what the religious people are doing

is they are using that very system that was supposed to connect people to God. This will be a house of prayer for all peoples. And they are using that very system to profit off of it. And they are abusing his people. That there are money changers there. And there are people that are robbing from his people. And the reason what it means when it says money changers is that in the temple there was a temple tax and they would not allow Roman currency to be used because it had Caesar's face on it.

So they created their own little like temple money and you would exchange your money for some temple money so that you could bring your offering. And they would take advantage of the people in the exchange. You ever been to Chucky Cheese? You notice they won't take like they won't take a Lincoln, they won't take a Washington, they won't take a Benjamin, they only take Chucky. But Chuckie's pretty worthless, and somehow in the exchange, you feel like you're not really getting your money's worth, right? This is sort of what way they were doing. Or David Busters, you ever done that? They're all high tech now.

You bring in your money, and they're like, no, you got this special David Buster's card. And then at the end of it, every swipe, you're like, this seems like it's not going my way. And then you come back, first of all, you come back with like 10 million tickets. You'd be like, y'all about to load up the truck here. I got 10 million tickets. Be like, all right, spider ring. Got two left. Sweet.

Right? And then if you still get, I still got some money left on my card, can I exchange it and get it back? They're like, nope, you're Dave and busted, okay? We got all your money. They're taking advantage of people this way, and then they're also charging. They would inspect your offering and be like, look, that ox ain't going to do it, okay? So you put that ox over here, and you can only sacrifice one of our oxen.

Because they couldn't go anywhere else, like this. You ever been to Disney? Do you ever buy a Coke at Disney? And you're like a $9 Coke. I never had a $9 Coke. What is in this Coke? This must be, tastes like a Coke.

Here's why. Because Disney is a den of robbers. That's why. It's just true. Imagine if you pulled up here to the church. And that's what we did. We had set up the system whereby you had to pay to play. And you come in and be like, hey, welcome to 1122.

So glad you're here. First time, sure is. Did you grow up Baptist? I sure did. For $100, we'll let you sit in the back row. Right? Oh, Pentecostal, $100, front row. Extra 25, have your own tambourine.

You understand? And they'll be like, I see you brought your Bible here. What kind did you bring? Oh, I'm sorry, that is not the official approved 1122. Let us take that. We'll buy it from you for a nickel, and we would like to sell you this 1122 sanctified version for 50 bucks. This is the kind of thing that was happening here.

And Jesus ain't having it. Not when they are using the very system that God set up to draw men. and women closer to him, they are using that very system to exploit God's people. And so, verse 15, here's how he's going to respond. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers, and he overturned the tables. Now, I mean, Jesus walks in and he looks around and he's like, what in the name of me is going on?

And his disciples are like, hey, what are you going to do? He's like, I'm about to show you what I'm doing. And he is making a whip. And there are so many commentators that they're like, I don't think he meant it for the people. I think you need to read your Bible. Quit trying to feather Jesus' hair.

He does not need to make over. By the way, last week we asked this question, or made this statement. AW Tozer says, the most important thing about you is what you think about when you think about God. Let me just shift that a little bit. What do you think about when you think about Jesus? Because so many of us, so many of us,

have this complete misunderstanding of who Jesus was and is. And some of you think, some of you, because of like veggie tales and flannel graph and some really cheesy Christian movies about 20 or 30 years ago, when you think about Jesus, you think of like a white guy, like Swedish with blonde hair, no split ends, flips out on the end, with a bathrobe and a Miss America sash, with a British accent. Hello, I'm Jesus. Just like petting sheep and playing hopscotch with kids.

That is some kind of make-believe hippie Jesus that has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Scripture. Jesus of Nazareth walks into his father's house and is like, not on my watch. And he is going to make a whip and turn over some tables and pour out some money. That's what's happening here. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade. And his disciples remember that it was written, zeal for your house, consume me. That Psalm 699. That word zeal means jealousy. That a prophecy of the coming Messiah would be that the jealousy of the Lord for his house would eat him up. And see, when you hear that

God is a jealous God, don't get messed up here, because people misunderstand it, because God is not jealous of you. God doesn't look at you and be like, I wish I had those pants. That's not what he's doing. God doesn't look at your car and be like, I wish I had a car like that. No, no, no, no, no. He's not jealous of us. He is jealous for us. And God knows that the worst thing that we could ever do is put anybody else in the position that he belongs in. And so he looks at his father's house. And he gets pretty upset, pretty upset. And so he makes a whip, he turns over tables. And then you got to ask the question why. Why? Why? what upsets Jesus about this.

Again, first and foremost, we find out this in Matthew's account when he says it's a dinner robbers. By the way, this is just for free. There seems to be two accounts of the cleansing of the temple in the gospels. Either it's one account talked about in two different places and John's not concerned with chronology, or he did it twice, wants to establish his ministry,

and then wants to kind of shut it down. But either way, the same thing is true. We find out that what they have done is they have taken God's house, which was supposed to be a house of prayer, and they are abusing God's people for their own benefit. They're exploiting God's people, and that'll take him off. And then there's one other thing going on here, too.

We find out that the place that this has happened is in a place called the Court of the Gentiles. Now, I don't have time to, like, fully go into exactly how the temple was structured and set up, but there was first year a hierarchical system. And in the very, very middle, there's this room called the Holy of Holies, which represented the presence of God, and only one Jewish male could go in there, the high priest. And then outside of that, Jewish men could go.

And then outside of that, all Jewish people could go. And then outside of that was this place for people like me, rednecks from Dylan. I imagine most of us here are Gentiles. And it was called the Court of the Gentiles. You see, because the reason God chose Israel was not for Israel's sake, but God chose Israel that he would bless them, that they would be a blessing to all the people, that the point of the temple and the point of Israel

was to point people to Jesus. And when Jesus walks in and sees this, he's quoting Isaiah 56-7, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, plural, every tribe, every tongue, every nation. And yet when he walks in, what's happening is that now the insiders, the Jewish people, the religious people, have kicked out,

have not made any room for the people that didn't grow up in Sunday school, didn't grow up in the temple, and instead he's using their space to sell the ox and the sheep and the pigeons. And so if it's full of people buying their sacrifice and it's full of ox and it's full of sheep and it's full of pigeons, and it's full of dives, guess what it's not full of? Gentiles. The Gentile people that came to worship Yahweh. And notice this too. If anybody on the planet, if anybody on the planet, If anybody on the planet ever wanted to pull the VIP card, Jesus could have done it. If anybody wanted to walk up to the temple and move the velvet rope and walk down the red carpet and say, hey, I'm about to go to be my dad in the Holy of Holies.

Jesus could do it, but he ain't hanging out in the green room in the VIP room. He's hanging out back in where the rednecks like me are in the court of Gentiles. And when he sees it, he sees religious people taking care of themselves at the expense of the people that he came to seek and define. And any time this happens, it angers Jesus. In fact, in Luke chapter 17, verse two, Jesus makes it very clear that if anyone prevents someone else from coming to him, it would be better for that person to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the ocean. And if that triggers you, then you pray about that for a minute. This ain't meek and mild Jesus. Jesus gets really, really, really anger, angry. When people use,

his father's name to take advantage of people, and he gets really, really angry when the people who are already on the inside don't make room for the people who are going to be invited to come in. Like Jesus sees this thing as a rescue ship, not a cruise liner, not about like what's in this thing for me. And at the moment we're rescued, we're made a part of the rescue team, and we were consistently, we are constantly, we are relentlessly saying, all right, God, use me in whatever way you want to to find more people to come in here with us. It makes them angry. You ever thought about that? You ever thought about what makes God angry? Did you know there's a list in the Bible? You should know this. What if your name's on it? You didn't even know. Okay, look it up.

Proverbs chapter 6. The Bible lists seven things that angers God. Proverbs 6. 16. There are six, things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. And here he goes. Haughty eyes. And again, that's haughty. Not haughty eyes. It means prideful. A lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers. God hates those things. Now, as I was digging through, I'm going, okay, Lord, what is, what is, what ties these things together? The thing that it brought my mind to is this, was Jesus was asked by a lawyer, what's the greatest of all commandments? He says, it's simple, all right? Number one, love the Lord

of your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. These things that he hates is the opposite of that. The things that he hates is when we reject God, haughty eyes, because essentially we say, God, forget you, I don't need you, I got this. And then when we began to devalue other people that were created in his image, that God hates that. Which, by the way, if you see that the opposite of these things

are things that God loves, God loves humility, God loves the truth, God loves hands that don't, that aren't shedding innocent blood, but that are protecting people that are in need. God loves a heart that devises wise plans. God loves feet that run to, good. God loves a true witness that breathes out the gospel, and God loves those who sow unity and

not discord. That's what he loves. So let me ask you this. What angers you? I mean, God's got a list of things that anger him. So what is it that angers you? Now, I know right now, if I were to give you the mic and ask you, you'd be like, same thing. These things anger me so much. I plan to tweet many things about it today. Okay. God bless you. But what's crazy, if I were to ask you, what's the last time you got mad? When's the last time you got mad? Tell me what happened the last time you got mad. I could tell you what we would do. I could, you would say, I could tell you what makes me angry. Okay. I got these little people with my last name at my house and these people, they were prayer requests at one point in my life. Not about to drive me crazy, happy Mother's Day

to me, all right? Or how about the people in our country that still don't know what the left lane is for? It's called the fast lane, people. I don't know where you're from. If you ain't figured that out, just stay over there on the other side. Do you understand? But what's crazy, man, is I begin to evaluate the things that anger me. The truth is this.

Anger is not something that happens to us. Anger is something that is in us. You see, the Lord is angered when he is rejected and people are devout. And I think often we are angered when we feel rejected and we are devalued. When somebody tries to take our comfort, our control, our convenience. In fact, James, in James chapter four, he asked this question. He basically says, hey man, what angers you? He says it this way.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? By the way, if you're new to Bible study, just check this out. Did you know James who wrote a book in the Bible? James is the brother of Jesus, the brother of Jesus. And James believed that Jesus is the son of God. Let me just put this in context. How many of you got a brother, if you got a brother raised it? Huh?

What would your brother have to do to convince you that he was the son of God? James was convinced. It took the resurrection. And when Jesus came out of the grave, he was like, all right, bro, I am with you. And then James, James, he writes different than most of the other New Testament writers. He just shoots it straight. He will ask a question, what causes fights and quarrels among you? And then he actually answers his own question.

And I think the reason maybe, maybe it's because he grew up with Jesus, and Jesus is famous for answering questions with questions. You know, I can just imagine Mary going, did you clean your room? He's like, Mom, there were these three birds. She was like, oh, my goodness, okay? So James is just like, boom, shooting his straight. So he asked this question, what makes you angry? What causes fights and quarrels among you? And if I ask you that question, our instinct would be she did. He did. My boss, the president, governor, whoever, my kids. Because we think anger is something that has. happens to us, we don't realize that it lives on the inside of us. And then James answers his own questions. He says, what causes fights and poor worlds among you? I'll tell you what. You want something

and you don't get it. You see, there's a big old difference between what we get angry about and what angers the Lord. What angers the Lord is when he is rejected and his creation is not valued when his image bearers are devalued. And if we're going to be followers of Jesus Christ, then not only are we going to learn the things he teaches, but we're also called to do the things he does and become the person that he is. And so what anchors you? I mean, I don't know how you sit under gospel teaching, how you read the scriptures, how you gather with the saints, make much of his name, and then not look at this crooked and depraved world, and there's not some things in here that just make your blood boil.

And if it doesn't make your blood boil, it may be because your blood is still in you and not the blood of Jesus Christ. What makes you angry? I got a few. Help me understand how in the world there are more slaves today than ever in the history of the world.

Help me understand how people are abusing boys and girls and men and women and trafficking them at their own benefit. And it's not even a thing that's happening way out there somewhere where it's happening right here under our noses right here in Jacksonville. And the church is complicit.

I can tell by your sputtering applause. You haven't really faced that yet. What if that was your kid? What if that was that your son, your daughter? What angers you? Where do you see people treated by systems of injustice, mistreated, devalued, and it doesn't stir something up in you?

I can give you another one, man. Help me understand. how in the world there are still children around the world that starve to death when there is enough food to feed every person on the planet multiple times over. It's not an agricultural issue. It's a, it's a system of corrupt politicians and people and at the expense of people lining their very own pockets. How in the world could we be a people that throws away all that we throw away, and yet there are people being thrown away on this planet? What are you going to do about it? I'm just going to tell you, we are at the kind of church that does something about it.

Because of these kinds of things, we've sponsored 13,000 compassion kids, and I'm currently partnering with some of our friends, like at TTF and other places, to do something about these things that anger us. Now, here's the problem. Here's the problem when you start looking at the tables that you want Jesus to turn over. What do you do when the table's inside of you? I try to tell this story as often as I can, just to be a reminder of the kind of church we want be. A long time ago, when I was in seminary, man, I lived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

You ever been to Myrtle Beach? I wouldn't go back. I wouldn't if I were you. It'll get on you. Dirty Myrtle is what we called it. All right, the Redneck Riviera. Yeah, you got to go through Dylan to get there. It's like a gateway drug. Don't do it. Don't do it. It's not good. And so I had three jobs. When I lived in Myrtle Beach, so I was in seminary, I had three jobs, okay, because I'm a grown man. I take care of me. But anyway, I waited tables at barefoot landing. That was fine. worked at a gym, a little gym there in North Myrtle Beach, and I was like the morning guy, you know, make the shakes and put the weights back and all that. And then I was also a youth pastor at a little Southern Baptist church about 25, 30 minutes inland. And so what I would do is,

is on Wednesdays and Sundays I would preach at this little church for teenagers. And so I would sit up there at the desk, the little front desk of the place, and that was the only time I had my week to work on my sermon. So I'd have my Bible out, I'd be working on my talk or whatever. And the guy that owned the gym, he went across the street to the strip. the club and he said girls I've got a I've got a deal for you everybody here all the dancers you got a free membership across the street at the gym and so it was a brilliant move because at about 10 o'clock in the morning 1030 in the morning all the dancers from this place called the crazy horse would come into World Gym and about

1002 every male in North Myrtle Beach would show up right behind we can work out that was how that goes now what began to happen over time is I'm sitting up there I'm also the shake guy so when you know they get finished working out and need a shake and I was that make the shake sit it down and I'd have them all Bible and my stuff and they said, what are you doing? What are you working on? I was like, well, I'm writing a sermon. I'm teaching high school kids, and so this is what I'm working on. And I would pre-pre-pre-preach my sermons to these girls. And I know this is crass, but I just remember thinking, I feel like if I can connect with the dancers, surely I can connect with the 11th graders. You know,

they were like my test audience. I said, that's what we do, man, sit up there all the time. And then what began to happen over time is those people that I was warned about in my Southern Baptist church became human beings. I began to know their story. Every single one of them, almost every single one of them was abused. None of them thought this was my plan. They all felt trapped.

They all had to drink something or take something to work. Almost every single one of them had a child that did not know what they did and they were trying to figure out how to navigate that world. They all had two names. I found that out too. Oh, your name's not platinum. Cool, all right.

And again, man, if your name's platinum, you got a stripper name. I don't know what to tell you, all right. That's on you. And so I would sit up there and share the gospel and talk to them and that kind of thing and then invite them to church, you know. And then one day, this lady who had a little kid named Sunshine, and she said, I'll go to church with you. And I thought, uh-oh.

I haven't thought this through very well. I don't know that my church is ready for her. I mean, like, I didn't, I would, the little Southern Radish church I was at, like there was a full-on dress code. I mean, full-on dress code. And there was nobody to look like Sunshine that went to my church. Everybody at the church I went to,

it was like, remember like shoulder pads? And like, you could go straight from worship to turning your own butter without even changing. You know what I'm talking about? And I was like, I don't know how this is going to go, man. I mean, I was nervous. I thought, how do you un-invite somebody to church?

And I was like, okay, yeah, sure, it'll be great. We'll do this. And I said, I got to get there super early because I'm the youth pastor, and all they trust me with is the announcement. So I do the announcements, but we got to be there before it starts. She's like, cool, I'll drive. And so she comes to pick me up in a brand new convertible white Corvette.

And I thought, sweet. We're just going to slide right in my little Southern Babi church. Nobody will let me know we're coming. And because it was convertible, her license plate said, topless fun. Ha ha, ha. So she pulls up to get me. Her daughter's with her, and I said, I'm driving. It was usually like a 22-minute drive.

I got there in 16 minutes. It would fly, all right? And so we're going. And listen, man, like I said, there was a drive. dress code at my church, and she didn't get the memo. I told her, like, dress for church, but she, she, she, she didn't dress like everybody else. I mean, she just, she looked like a stripper and a sundress. Now, let me tell you this. Don't think about this too much. And she was heavily invested in her career. Tracking? Okay, so. I mean, bro, she's a half a step away from like,

clear heels with a goldfish in it, you know? And I'm like, all right, we want to church, let's go. So we pull in, we walk in the door, and immediately I feel the stairs. I see people whispering. I mean, it was almost, the judgment was almost tangible. And we dropped her kid off in our little kids program, and then she sat there with me, and I did the announcements, and we sang the songs, and we heard the sermon. I have no idea what the dude preached about. And then after the service, a deacon came up to me and said,

we need to see you in the pastor's office. And I was like, yeah, go get your kid, I'll be right there, it's nothing. I knew what it was. And I walked in the pastor's office, and there was the senior pastor and the chairman of the board of deacons and two other deacons. Now, deacon in that church meant power broker. Deacon in the Bible and in our church means servant. And he said to me, what are you doing bringing someone like that here?

And then he made it very clear that that church existed to protect us from dangerous people like that and what will we tell the children? And I wish, man. One of my greatest regrets in my entire life. I wish I would have had the boldness to stand up there and say, how dare you? Jesus Christ died on the cross for every single one of us. And if she's not invited, I'm not invited, but I didn't. I was complicit. I was afraid. I didn't know what it would do to like my career and how do I stand up to these men. And so I just said, yes, sir, and tucked my head and walked out to the car. And when I got out to the car, she's no dummy, man. She's leaning up against her car. Her kid is in the car coloring a picture of Jesus's face, and she has tears rolling from under

her revans. And she said, that was about me, right? Nope, no, I lied. I just lied, man, I just lied. No, that wasn't about you. It's about something. And we got in the car and we're driving back. And I don't know what to say. It was as quiet in the car as it is right now. So I'm just trying to make conversations. So about 10 minutes in, I go, so what did you think? And she says, I've never felt more devalued in my entire life. Two days before, she's naked on a pole to get a dollar from a man she's never met before. And yet, when she walks into the Lord's house,

she felt more devalued in that moment than at the crazy horse. You know who needed a whip in that moment? Me. Me. And it's not even because I agreed with what those men said. I disagreed, but I was complicit in it. I did not stand up and do anything about it.

And listen, church, I wish, I wish. I wish. I could go back to that moment and write all the wrongs. I wish I could do that in a number of places in my life, but the only thing I know is that about the past, as you can learn from it, and be forgiven them. So when we launched this thing, I was going to make for sure that this would be a movement for all people to discover in deep into relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you have ever been busted up and beaten up by the church, that was not coming from the Heavenly Father, that was coming from some religious people that were twisting God's system to be with His people to serve themselves. And I don't care who you've done or what you've done

or what you're even currently doing. If you fall in the all-people category, Jesus died for you and he wants you to be a part of his family and this family. Amen. So what do you do when the tables on the inside of you that he needs to flip over? So what makes you angry? Pay attention. Because if the things that make you angry are about your ego and selfishness, that should be a big flashing check engine problem on the engine of your soul. Because the more we walk with Jesus, the things that break his heart ought to break hours. And then the question is, what are you going to do about it? Because the opposite of love is not anger. The opposite of love is apathy. And the church has been way too apathetic with a whole bunch of people being devalued in this world. What are we going

to do about it? In fact, the Bible tells us to be angry. In Ephesians 4, 26, and 27, Paul says, be angry and do not sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. I think what this means is don't just feel angry. Do something about it. So here's how you respond to anger. The first question is, you better ask the question, why? Why?

What's going on in here? Is it my own selfish motives? That's unrighteous anger. or is this something God has stirred up in me? That is righteous, like Christ was righteously angry here in the temple. Second, you pause. You pause. I don't know how long it takes to make a whip.

I know how long it takes to take your belt out and one, create one. Saw that about a hundred million times growing up. But Jesus takes a minute. He does not react to the situation. He responds. Third, you watch your mouth. You watch your mouth. Tweeting about it ain't doing something about it.

understand? And the things that came out of Jesus' mouth were Bible verses. And a lot of times based on circumstances, people would say, hey, well, I didn't really mean that I was just angry. Anger is not something that happens to you. It happens in you. And don't think, I just got to get it out. It's not like a bucket. It's like a factory going on in there. And then you make a whip and you turn over some tables. That's right. That means you do something about it. So my question is, what are you going to do about it? It is not enough to just feel it. It is not enough to just feel. a thing. We are called to do something. Be not merely here as the word and so deceive yourself, but do what it says.

What are the things where you see God rejected and God's people devalued, his image bear is devalued, that stir something up in you and you need to step in and do something about it? And I can tell you, and if you were to say, what did you do? I'm telling you what I did. Is it when given an opportunity, I planted a church with a whole bunch of people around me for sure. great team of people.

But I wanted to make sure that the church that I was going to have the pleasure of serving as the lead pastor would not just be about big buildings and high attendance and how many downloads and not just rooms full of consumers that just want to show up and laugh a little bit and be entertained by a sermon

and sing a song that you're critical of and live a nice little Christian life in your nice little American world. No, no, no, no. I want this place to be an army of believers that listen to the Spirit of God that make a whip and flip over some tables for the glory of God.

Where is that? And here's the thing, man. I can't tell you where that is. That's when the real preacher here, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, when he breaks that forth in your life, the moment you begin to find yourself saying, somebody ought to do something about that,

I got good news, he already picked to somebody, is you. And you start saying, well, what could I do? You have no idea. You have no idea what one little step of face. could do. There's a man named William Wilberforce, politician in the late 1700s, and God, through the reading of his word, took the scales off this man's eyes, and he thought, how in the world have we been complicit as believers were people-owned people? This cannot be

okay. And so he gets to work in the space that God had called him to. And he says this, so enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable, did the slave trade's wickedness appear, that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would. I, from this time, determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition. And somebody said, bro, that's political suicide. And he said, worth it. Another guy in the 1500s is a monk who was just reading his Bible.

and he gets to the book of Romans and he realizes that we are not saved by our works we're saved by the finished work of Christ that we're saved by Christ alone through faith alone by grace alone and then he looks around and there is a church system

that in the name of God is abusing God's people because no no no no no what Jesus did wasn't enough not only do you have to believe what Jesus did but you also have to pay penance and Martin Luther goes whoa no no no no you need to repent and turn towards the finish work of God,

there is nothing you can do to help yourself out. And so he nails 95 thesis to the door at Wittenberg, and he starts the Protestant Reformation. And he pays dearly for the rest of his life. And when he was on trial, and they said, bro, all you got to do is just back off, and we'll leave you alone. And he says, I cannot choose but to adhere to the Word of God,

which has possession of my conscience, nor can I possibly, nor will I even make any recantation since it is neither safe nor honest to act contrary to conscience. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. So help me God. Or another guy, maybe you've never heard before. Pastor Everett Swanson. Pastor Everett Swanson was preaching to the troops in the Korean War in South Korea.

And one day he's standing there waiting on a bus and he sees a trash truck come up and scoop up with a bunch of rags and throw it into the back of the truck. And so he goes to look at it. And the problem was, is those rags had babies in it. them, young children in them. And these kids were starving to death and freezing to death in South Korea. And he thought, how could this be? So he went home and he began to pair individuals at his church with individuals in a Korean orphanage. This came to be known as Compassion International. And now Compassion has rescued over two million children from poverty in Jesus' name. And this

church has sponsored 13,000 of them. So let me just ask you, man, what are you going to do? What are you going to do about it? You see, because now, this place, one of the things you could do is you could go to COE22.com slash local outreach. And what you're going to see is you're going to see a whole bunch of local partners here. Because one of the things that we try to do at 1122 is I don't need to be the expert on anything. We try to be an expert in church. And then we partner with a bunch of folks like Hadassah's Hope.

My wife partners with them. You know what they do? It's a bunch of women from our church. And they don't judge the people in the clubs. They make dinner for them and they go into the strip clubs. once a month and sit down and pray and get to know them and that kind of stuff. That's different. Why don't you do that? Or God stirs you up by human trafficking? Why don't you get involved in her song? It's a ministry of the Tebow Foundation. We partner with them. My wife, she's also,

you know, God says he hates hands that shed innocent blood. It's one thing to have a political position on that, but my wife is being trained right now to go work at First Coast Women's Services. So instead of judging these women in this time of need, she could just walk alongside them and point them to Jesus. What about you? What you're going to do? I would tell you, do what Mary said last week. You just do whatever it is that he tells you to do. You see, Jesus has angered by the exploitation of his people, by the very system that was supposed to point people to the Savior.

And he's angered when the insiders don't make room for those that are coming. And so what he's going to do is Jesus is going to do more than cleanse the temple. He's going to replace it. That's what he's about to do. So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show for these things? And here's this answer. And Jesus answered to them, destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up. They had no idea what he's talking about.

The Jew said, it's taken 46 years to build this temple. You'll raise it up in three days? By the way, this is the second temple. Harry built this temple. Solomon bit the first one. and God's presence dwelt in there. It got wiped out. There is no mention of the presence of God

entering Herod's temple, and now the very presence of God walked up in the temple, and nobody recognized it. And what Jesus is saying, we find out in just a second, he's talking about his own body. And what he's saying is, once I go to the cross,

there will be no need for this sacrificial system anymore because I am the Lamb of God who's come to take away the center of the whole world. You don't just need to reform this system because you don't need a new system. You need a Savior, and I am the Savior. thing is built on the gospel. Verse 21, but he was speaking about the temple of his body

when therefore he was raised from the dead. His disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Remember we talked about this last week. There's a sign, the glory of God has manifested, and people believe. He didn't even do a miracle here.

He just flipped over the tables, and they're like, by what sign? He's like, I got your sign. Here's your sign. I am going to go to the cross, and you kill this temple, the sacrifice for all sin, for all people that would believe, and on the third day, I will be resurrected. Again, you don't need a new system.

You need a savior. And then also, when Jesus at the cross tears down the need for the temple, also the entire hierarchy that they had built up, that all got torn to the ground. Because at the cross, when Jesus says, it is finished, an earthquake cracks right through the middle of the temple and the curtain that separated the people of God from the presence of God was torn from the top to the bottom, not the bottom to the top as if people tore their way up, but the top to the bottom like God took that and said, I'm will be with my people from now on. And not only that, the hostility wall that divided people in the temple was torn down.

Because in Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. We are all one in Christ, Jesus. That's what he came to do. Jesus didn't come to take sides. He came to take over. That's what he did. Then he closes it this way. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast,

many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. In other words, salvation would not be built on or dependent on what people. did, it would be done by Jesus' finished work on the cross. So based on, because of the gospel of Jesus, the price that he paid, and the fact that when he said it is finished, it counts for anyone who would believe.

And based on the reality that God created every single human being on this planet as image bearers of him, and they are worthy to be valued because they are valuable because of what Christ has done for them at the cross and because who they are, what makes you angry? What makes you angry? And then the real question is, and what are you going to do about it?

May this never, ever, ever be the kind of church. Again, where a bunch of consumers just show it to be entertained to feel better about you for a week until you come back. But may this be an army of believers in Christ that the gospel doesn't just stop with us but flows through us

and wherever we go, there are signs and wonders that manifest the glory of God so that more people would believe in Him. So what are you going to do? I can tell you one way you can start. First of all, you for sure should be praying about God. What's my next step? Is there a local partner that I partner with? Or maybe there's some kind of ministry. Maybe there's some kind of action that you know you need to take, whether it's local or global, whatever, just do whatever he tells you to do. But one of the ways, one of the ways, one of the ways, is you could help me make sure that this place, that this place always, always, always is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And the

moment you think, that's my chair, that's my seat, that's my parking spot, then you're playing for a team, it just ain't team Jesus. Because at team Jesus, we make room, we make room, we make room. Just like he made room in heaven for you and I, then you and I should want to see people the way he sees them as valuable to him. So what does he calling you to do? So look, we're going to respond. And I, man, we respond the same way all the time. Okay, we do. But some of you don't get it. So I hope you get it this time. We're going to respond to the gospel because the gospel demands a response. And we're going to pray. We're going to pray. And if you're already in some table-turning kind of ministries in this world, you should probably

come and say, God, I can't do it without you. I can't do it without you. Help me never become like one of the religious leaders that is more interested in their tradition than in what you are doing. And if you don't know what that step is for you, maybe you would come. Maybe you'd prayer, a bold prayer. You want a bold prayer from the Bible? God, here I am. Send me. You want God to answer your prayer? Try that one. It landed me right here. We're going to pray. And we're going to bring. We're going to bring our ties in offerings. Because when we do this, When we bring our ties and offerings to him, it is a part of being in the rescue mission. It just is.

Because when we bring it to the Lord and say, God, it ain't much, but what I have is yours. Like that little boy with the fishes and the loaves, he can take it and he can bless it, and he can do immeasurably more than we can do with it in our pocket. So we're going to bring, and we're going to sing. And I know some of you don't sing. I need you to sing this time. And if you're like, I can't sing, we know. So you just shout.

We'll sing this song called I Will Make Room. I think there may be this unintended double entendre going on with that phrase, I Will Make Room. We know the people that wrote the song, so I know primarily what the songwriter is talking about is I Will Make Room in here for you. Because it's so busy with my own agenda, and let me just clean that out and may my life be about your agenda. But also, I'll tell you this, one of the greatest ways to make room in your life for Christ is you get real busy about making room in the kids. kingdom of God for everybody he died for. And then we're going to sing this one part. I think it's the bridge or something.

Gets real loud. It's awesome. And when we get to this part, I need you to sing. And again, if you can't sing, shout. Shake up the ground of all my tradition. Break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is better. You see, because his way is not I came to take from you, but I came to give my life for you.

And his way is not setting up a bunch more rules. so that we could participate in religious activity. His way was to break down the barrier so that we could be in a relationship with him. Shake up the ground of all my tradition and break down the walls of all my religion. Your way is better. Would you please stand and let me pray for you?

Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, I pray that today would be a defining moment in thousands of believers' lives. Spirit of God, I pray that you would answer their prayer. Here I am, send me. And God, you would give them specific places to go. Lord, I pray that you would stir our hearts for what breaks yours. God, I thank you, and I praise you that I am not ultimately judged by an utter act of failure and cowardice decades ago, but I am judged by your finished work on the cross. And Lord, we thank you for opportunities

to partner with you. And Lord, I pray, I pray starting right here. May this be the a center of a worldwide movement that starts right here on this day in human history. And you raise up sons and daughters that step into your kingdom of God, living on kingdom purposes, filled and fueled with the spirit of God and standing on the solid rock of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And God, we thank you. We thank you for lives that will be rescued. God, we thank you for addictions that will be broken.

God, we thank you for strongholds that will come tumbling down. that people will see signs, your glory will be manifested, and people will believe. And we pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and all God's people said, amen. So church, let's respond. Let's sing like you mean it. Let's bring like it matters because it does. And let's pray like he's listening because he is.

Let's respond.