Welcome to the Illuminate Church podcast.
We hope today's message is encouraging to you.
All right, all right, good morning to you.
Welcome everybody. If you're brand new to
Illuminate Church, you want to say thank you for being here.
This is not normal. We're doing stuff different.
You may feel like who moved my cheese?
And the answer is the Lord God. He is giving us an idea in this
series we're starting today that we do things differently, where
we sing first and then we open the word of God and then we're
going to have confession. Everyone say confession.
Yeah, we built a giant brown box.
We're going to be right here. There's a thing in the middle.
I'm going to be on this side and you're going to be on this side
and your side has a microphone. You're like, well, I'm used to
like 20 minutes of worship. Like I can get my mojo going and
the Holy Spirit. I'm used to like it's still dark
in the room and I can come in late and nobody's going to see
me. But now we're all going to see
everybody. Nobody look, nobody look right.
But we're really the, the intent of this series is to sing a song
so that we are pointed ourselves to the Lord God and then open up
his word and then spend the rest of our time together after we,
we learn from the word to respond to the word.
And sometimes we, we, we sing a lot, then we do the word and
then you, you go spend your money at Panera.
And then it's like, what? Did how come we didn't respond?
And so we are going to have a time of confession, Not what
you're thinking, not the brown box is something different.
And then we'll have a time of singing.
To end the service instead of beginning the service.
And you'll notice I'm saying word confession and singing and
not word confession and worship because we tend to think of the
musical part as the worship part.
But all of it together is worship.
All of it together is an offering to the Lord.
When we go ahead, when we open the Word and study the
Scriptures together, what we're saying is I'm offering my.
Heart to this word. So that I'll be transformed by a
word. I don't add anything to your
word, Lord, You add it to me. And when we offer ourselves in
confession, what we're doing is saying, OK, Lord, I've heard
your word. Now I'm doing some introspection
and noticing where there's a disparity, and I'm confessing
that I'm out of alignment, but I'm also confessing I'm coming
into alignment. And then we'll respond with
singing the highest praise because he's worthy of what he's
done in the word and in confession.
Amen. Do you understand what we're
doing? Good.
Praise God. Well, before, oh, I need to tell
you this, everyone take out your phones.
I mean, this nobody in the 9:00 AM did it.
And then I got upset and had a little tissy in front of
everybody because I'm like, what's the point of preaching if
nobody does anything? And you did it of Doctor MO did
it. I forgot and and like three
others. So everyone have your phone out.
Say yes, OK, you're going to say whatever you say to make it
magically do stuff. Watch what happens with mine and
do what I do after I do it. I'm going to say hey Siri.
Remind me next week at 12:30 PM on Sunday to pump up the jams.
I messed up. I meant to say 10:30, not 12:30
because that's after service. So hey Siri, will you change my
last reminder to be 10:30 AM please?
It's not doing it, but you understand, I, I kind of messed
it up. So you need to tell your phone
right now. Go ahead, take the time next
week 1030, pump up the jams. Pump it up.
OK, you follow me. Are you putting are you doing
this or just staring at me mezzanine.
Are you doing it online? Are you doing it?
Here's what I mean. Y'all can, can, can we have A
Little Dream together here? What would it look like next
Sunday if we all showed at the church already ready to go?
Because on the drive here you pumped up the jams.
Meaning at 10:30 next week your phone's going to remind you
like, oh, I always forgot about this.
Good thing I did what they said in service.
And from 10:30 till the time you get here.
You're going to be worshipping. That's that's, that's the jams.
By the way, don't don't turn on Tone Locke or something else
that's a great musician. Anyway, you want to turn on
something like I did this morning on the way to church.
Acapella. That's the name of a group,
1993, this album called Set Me Free.
Anybody. Anyone ever heard this album?
Peter. Yeah.
Come on. I saw those hands.
Yeah. The loudest I have my worship
music during the week is usually on the Sunday drive in.
I'm just cranking it up. If your kids start getting loud,
just crank up the music louder. I don't hear you.
I'm worshiping Jesus, all right? Are you going to do it?
Say I will, I promise. Let your yes be yes and your no
be no. Two more things #1 today is day
number one of our 21 day fast. Everybody clap your hands.
Excellent. 21 days of fasting. The Bible tells us that while
we're fasting to not put on sour faces.
In fact, coat our faces and oil so that nobody knows that we're
fasting so we're not going to tell the world like I'm fasting.
Look at me, aren't I awesome? We're just going to fast and
what we're doing is telling our flesh you are subservient to the
Spirit of God and so I'm fasting.
If you need help with anything fasting wise on your church
center Rap is this button. There's resources there.
You can also opt in to our emails that go out every single
day. The first e-mail went out today.
Did anybody? Read it.
Yep, Devante Brunson who's playing bass.
He wrote it. 2 claps for Devante.
Amazing, amazing word that's in there.
I hope that you look at it. Also, I need you to know that
every Tuesday during the fast, the next three Tuesdays from
noon to one, right here in the sanctuary, we're having a time
of prayer. And singing.
So you can join us here. We may have ten of us, we may
have 1000, I don't know. But please, if you're able to, I
know this work and such, if you're able to join us right
here during the fast on Tuesdays, noon to one will be
here. Amen.
Praise God.
Last thing I want to tell you is that men's conference called Man
Up is happening at the end of February.
We're just about 5 weeks away from men's conference.
Amen. Give me, give me, give me one
minute to speak to the men. Men, are you here?
So, yeah, you're here today, whether you recognize it or not,
because God wants to radically touch you and transform your
life to bring about the fullness of what he promised in his Word
for you, to you, through you. And I have seen very few things,
if any, do that in a microwave. Short, short season, like a
men's conference. What I've seen happen to the men
at the men's conference and later in the fall, the women's
conference. It's incredible how the Holy
Spirit touches when we spend the time apart with the Lord.
Thursday evening, all day Friday, Saturday morning,
$125.00. You think, wow, that's a lot.
I'm telling you, it's tiny compared to what it does for the
rest of your life. It is a small investment to make
that will impact the rest of your life.
Not just your life, but your family.
Even if you're single, you still have family, your Co workers,
wherever you go. You'll be a different man if you
would just make the investment. So I made the challenge at the
first service. I said hey we're at 147, can we
get to 148? I was wrong.
We were really at 144. But standing here before you now
we're at 155 because 15. 16 How many is that?
11 men in the first service went ahead and registered.
So I'm looking at the second service thinking we can do more
than that at the second service, can we?
We can do more than that at the second service, can we?
So really, I'm looking for #156 And I'm going to count to 3.
And if you're the man in the room who's going to say I'm
going to be the 156 man to sign up, then when I count to three,
I just want you to pop out of your chair and, and what you're
doing is you're seating the room with faith.
If one man would stand up and say I'm signing up, then maybe
other men would say, you know what, me too.
So who it is, who it is, who it is on a #156 what Counted 12312.
Keep standing. I see you.
Keep standing. Don't sit down.
Don't sit down.
Come on. Keep standing.
All right, Keep standing. Are you wearing a Bears jersey?
All right, all right, hold on. Keep standing.
All right. Now I'm going to count to 3.
And if there's any wife who wants her husband to go and he's
sitting next to you on the count of three, go like this 123.
Hey Lord bless these men. Let their yes be yes and then
nobody know. Let them all Sign up today in
the name of Jesus from the mezzanine to here if you're
online anyone. Thank you men for saying yes and
I believe there's more to come. Following you in Jesus name, the
plan. Is next week, when I stand in
front of you, I will tell you there are 200 men already
registered for the Man Up Men's Conference.
Amen. Let's go.
Have a seat. Thank you.
Were you the first one? He was the first one up.
Yeah. What's your name?
Sir? Jerry.
Oh, over here. Oh, but now there's an argument.
Let there be unity. Are you?
You're giving it to him. He was first.
Yeah. What's your name, Sir?
Austin. Who?
Where's Austin? Oh, right there.
I'm not looking in the right place.
Hey, man. Thank you.
There you go. And in this case, we all should
be all together. Hallelujah.
Bless you, brother. Thank you.
Where am I now? All right, if you missed week 1
of this year, not week one of the series, that's today.
We cast vision. And what we felt like the Lord
is saying in this house is that we are ejecting from our earthly
citizenship and walking over and embodying the citizenry that we
have in heaven as part of the royal family, as believers in
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, to walk
away. From that which entraps us, from
that which puts us in bondage for that which looks like tasty
food but actually is empty calories and rots out our teeth
and crushes our spiritual guts. And leave that all behind to
embrace the peace and the beauty and the glory and the fullness
of joy in Jesus Christ. As citizens of heaven, the
question is how do we do that? How do we go from here to here?
And not just in a spiritual sense, like, hey, I'm saved and
now I'm a part of the citizenry of heaven, but actually living
as a citizen of heaven is the goal.
OK, so how do we do that? I felt like the Lord wanted to
set this in front of your spiritual eyes.
The first thing here in 2026, this series called Abandoned and
this directive. Live with Abandoned.
Repeat it with me. Live with Abandoned.
Go ahead, Go ahead. One more time, my man.
Yeah. So what does, what does that
mean? How do we live with abandoned?
I believe the Lord's going to reveal it to us today in the way
He does through His Word, so that all of us will.
Choose. By the time we walk out of here
like I'm abandoning my old life, I'm going to live with
abandoned. That's the goal.
Luke chapter 17 is where we're going to be.
If you have a Bible, open it up to Luke 17.
If you don't have a Bible, raise your hand.
Let me encourage you, church. Let this be the year you start.
Carrying that thing to church, you.
When you go to the mall, you take your wallet.
When you go to the church, you take your Bible.
No condemnation if you don't have it.
I'm just encouraging you, inviting you.
Bring your Bible, BYOB, bring your own Bible.
But if you don't have one, we got one there for you.
Just raise your hand. Our ushers were given one.
We keep running out of Bibles, which is a good thing to do.
Luke chapter 17. While you're flipping there, let
me just read the first few words to give some context.
It says now on his way to Jerusalem.
This is verse 11, His is Jesus. Jesus is going to Jerusalem,
which is customary for anyone in Israel to do 3 * a year.
Most families at the very least one time a year you go to
Jerusalem. So Jesus is 33 now.
He's been to Jerusalem at least 33 times, probably a lot more
than that, but he's on his way again.
And what's notable about this trip to Jerusalem is that he's
going for the final time. This is the end of the book of
Luke. We're getting to the scene where
Jesus is going to be. In a mock trial, he's going to
be tortured and eventually they're going to execute him,
assassinate him on the on the cross, a crucifixion.
So that's what's happening here in Luke 17.
It says in verse 11 Jesus traveled along the border
between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village,
10 men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance because
they're lepers and called out of a loud voice.
Jesus Master, have pity on us. If you're a Bible writing kind
of person, you write in the Bible.
Underline the word master. When he saw them, he said go
show yourselves to the priest. And as they went, they were
cleansed, One of them. When he was healed.
Came back praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus feet and thanked him and.
He was a Samaritan. Jesus asked.
We're not all ten cleanse. Where are the other nine?
Has no one returned to pray? Give praise to God except this
foreigner. Then he said to him, rise and
go. Your faith has made you well.
May the Lord bless the reading of His word.
I'm going to tell you a few stories and it's going to feel
like we're meandering, but follow me and we're going to
land somewhere, OK? The first story involves my mom.
My mom would teach us kids. I have two brothers, an older
and a younger that when an authority figure speaks, you do
it period, no questions asked. There was a sheriff's deputy
sitting in the 2nd row in the first service, Sheriff Deputy
Naresh. Many of you might know him.
I said when you're the authority, do people always obey
you? And he says most often not.
My Mama would not be happy. So we were on a white water
rafting trip when I was a young guy in Big Bend National Park in
southwest Texas. We're on the Rio Grande River
and my mom said if the river guide gives you an instruction,
you do it and you do it now because the authority has spoken
and it's going to save your life, so pay attention.
So we're going down the river. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's
incredible. And I'm chewing this gum that's
now become like flavorless Silly Putty in my mouth.
You know what I'm talking about. And I'm like, what should I do
with this gum? And so I don't want to throw it
in the water because it's beautiful.
So I looked to the guide, and I'm like, what should I do with
my gum? And the authority figure said,
stick it behind your ear. And so before a butterfly could
blink, I was like, right back here, just like that.
And you know what's behind your ear?
Hair. And you know what happens when
gum and hair touch? They become inextricably locked
forever together, never to divorce one another, always
together. So the end of the story is me
with a really weird haircut. That's story #1 remember it
story #2 also a true story. Harry and Charlotte Collier,
we're living in England with their eight-year old daughter
Marjorie, and they decided to go on an inaugural cruise of a boat
called the Titanic. They were moving to the United
States of America to go live in Idaho, for Charlotte's lungs
needed better air than what she was experiencing in wet, rainy
England. So they're moving to Idaho.
They're on the boat, 11:40 PM January 14th, 1921.
While they're in their bunks, the whole boat shutters and
makes a horrific sound, startle out of bed.
Harvey's like, listen, I'll go check it out.
Runs out the door. He's gone for a little bit.
He comes back and he says to Charlotte, we hit an iceberg.
This is an actual quote because Charlotte lived.
Harvey didn't. Charlotte says or Harvey says,
we hit an iceberg, a big one, but don't worry.
The officer on duty told me we are safe.
He says to his wife, we have a problem.
It's a big one, but don't worry. The authority figure, the
officer told me there's no danger.
When an authority figure acts, you do what they say and this
guy says no danger, and that's how they're behaving.
You just do it. But what happens when the
authority figure, as it was in my little boat and in the big
boat of the Titanic, happens to tell you a lie?
What happens if it's purposely or not, when the authority
figure is a deceiver? If you start to understand those
stories, you start to understand what it means to be a citizen of
Earth and bound. To the governor of the Earth, as
a citizen of the earth, I'm not suggesting you to you today that
our world. And its culture is starting to
sink. I'm telling you that from the
beginning in the garden, when humanity chose to rebel against
God and pay attention to the the temporary authority in the
garden, that our whole world has been sinking since it's not
starting to sink. It's been sinking the whole
time, you know. This You feel it.
You see it on the news. What's happening in Minneapolis?
Is our world sinking? Whichever way you view it, it's
not good. So what's going on?
Excuse me, Ephesians chapter 2. You don't need to turn there
because I'm going to read quick. We learn about the authority
figure of the earth. Verse one says, and you were
dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked
following the course of this world, following the Prince of
the power of the air, the authority in the earth that the
Spirit that is now at work in the sons and daughters of
disobedience. Paul also explains it in Second
Corinthians 44 saying the God lowercase G.
Do you see that it's lowercase the lowercase G God of this age
in this earth? Has blinded the minds of
unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that
displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Satan himself is the power is the Prince with the power on the
earth. Satan himself is the God of this
age who was blinding the minds of all people.
In fact, you may be here today and you've never trusted in
Jesus. That's all condemnation.
This is a regular state of humans to be blinded by the
power of the Prince of the air. The God of this age is blinding
you so that you might not see and love the Lord your God who
just wants to pour his love on you and to save you and to
redeem you. That's why Jesus says in John
chapter 16, he says in this world, because of this Prince,
because of this lowercase G God, you will have trouble this
authority figure who's lying to you.
You're going to have trouble, he goes on to say, but take heart,
I've overcome the world in Jesus name.
This is why Paul writes that the wages of sin, the wages of
living under the lying of this authority that's on the earth is
spiritual death and physical death.
We were never meant to die. In the garden was a tree of life
that we could have eaten from forever.
Here's some good news. What the Prince who's on the
Earth forgets is that he's a Prince and we have a king.
Are you here, church? What the lowercase G God forgets
is that there's a capital G God and his name is Lord of Lords
and King of Kings. Are you here, church?
That's why Jesus gave an escape. He on the sinking earth, He gave
us a lifeboat, if you will, John chapter 12, Jesus replied.
And this is the way that we start to move from the earthly
citizenship to living in the heavenly citizenship.
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
This is his crucifixion and resurrection.
Very truly, I tell you. Unless a kernel of wheat falls
to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many.
Seeds verse 25 Abandoned. Anyone who loves their life will
lose it, while anyone who loses, abandons their life in this
world will keep it for eternal life.
Now certainly there is salvation in Jesus that moves us into the
royal family, but living as a citizen of heaven and receiving
all that that entails comes. But I put it in a sentence.
The life you are looking for will only be found when you lose
the life you're living now. It's this exchange that happens.
I'm abandoning my earthly citizenship and I'm taking up,
I'm losing this life so that I can take up this life.
And if you feel stuck in the mundaneness or the tentacles of
the earth wrapped around your neck and like I'm saved, why am
I still suffering and still sinning?
It's because we need to make this transition.
It's abandoned. I'm leaving this life behind and
I'm embodying the life. That Jesus has paid his life for
me to receive not just faith and salvation, but the life of
abundance that comes after it. So how do we lose our lives
while still living on earth? How can you live but but lose
your life? It's what we're preaching in
this series. It's abandoned.
Live with abandoned, abandoned the earthly Kingdom.
Live in the Heavenly Kingdom and the story of the 10 lepers.
We see 10 people healed, but we only see one person who lives
with abandoned. If I was to tell you what this
message series is about and something I would love for you
to live for the rest of the year is to be that one guy or girl,
to be the 10% to live with abandoned.
How do we do that? I'm going to get to in a second
but before we go I want to clarify 2 terms that you saw in
Luke chapter 17. One was cleaned or cleansed.
Everyone say cleansed and the other is made well.
Both of these are great gifts from the Lord, but one of them
is greater than the other. And I think in the American
church, maybe in the church across the world, we've reversed
these and we made the wrong one, the main one, when the other one
is what matters more. What am I saying?
What cleansed means to detox, to remove admixture?
These guys had healthy bodies and then leprosy was mixed in,
added in admixture and when Jesus cleanse them, he's doing
their physically healing by removing what's been mixed in.
He removes the leprosy from them.
And did you notice I heard somebody go when I read it,
their cleansing came when they. Obeyed Jesus said, Go show
yourself to the priest. He spoke his word, they obeyed
his word, they went, and as they were obeying his word, they were
healed. The mixture was taken away from
them. And notice these guys, these ten
call Jesus master, somebody that are in the Bible a lot.
You'll know that masters not used very often.
In fact, most people call them teacher or rabbi because a
teacher or rabbi you can choose to agree with or not.
You may be right, but a master is an authority figure.
And when an authority figure speaks, you do what he says.
So they call him master, because in fact, these ten guys are the
only ones to call him master besides the disciples in the
Bible. It's pretty incredible because
he's the authority and they obey him.
And because they obey him, their bodies are made pure.
And this is a massive relief, as it would be for anybody.
And Jesus spends a. Lot of his time on the earth
giving this cleansing to many people.
The blind see, the mute speak the death.
Here the dead are raised to life.
It's incredible. It's wonderful to be cleansed of
God. Not cleansed of God, but
cleansed by God. You know what I mean?
There's a scene in Luke also where Jesus is healing a bunch
of people. They're lined up at a house.
He's like, I'm tired, I'm going to sleep.
He wakes up the next morning and they're still all waiting for
him to heal him to cleanse them, to remove the admixture of their
physical infirmity. And Jesus says, I'm not doing
it. And then he says these words for
I must go and do what my father sent me here to do.
And if you're in the scene, you're like, ain't this it?
Like aren't, isn't this it healing all these people?
And he's like, there's something even greater that I must go and
do that my father sent me to do. What is it?
It's the second verse, the second word made.
Well, it literally means saved you.
It means to be delivered from danger into safety.
It's, you've heard me say it a few times already this morning.
I'm not just leaving behind something, I'm entering
something new. I'm walking away from the power
and the penalty of sin, and I'm walking into the embrace of my.
Father, where there is fullness of joy, His peace, His mercy,
His grace, His purpose for my life, it's all here.
But I'm going to abandon this and not just stand in the middle
like now what do I do? I'm leaving this to go here and
here. I made well between being
cleansed and being made well. Cleansed, made well, This is the
one you really want. This is temporary.
Being cleansed, being physically healed, this is eternal.
Lazarus was cleansed. His body was made what?
His body was removed of death, and then he died again.
This man who fell at Jesus's feet was made well, and that
lasts forever. I'll put it this way.
Let's not settle for appetizers. You go to Chuy's.
Can I get a witness? And you get that The basket of
warm chips taste and see. And then you get dip it into the
jalapeno ranch. Sometimes you mix the ranch and
the salsa together and then your chimichanga shows up and you're
like, I filled up on the appetizer.
I don't have any room for the main course.
You know what I'm talking about if the American.
Church is obsessed. Only with healing we're going to
miss the main course. Listen to me.
Part of Jesus's job description is to bring physical healing.
I'm not Downing it. I'm just reorienting us to the
greater miracle, which is He saves us eternally by making us
well. Amen.
Come on, get in there. You want to be made well.
You want to eat the chimichanga? So how was this man made Well,
Well, he lost his life. He abandoned at the moment that
he turned to Jesus. I'm going this away.
I have my physical healing, but I recognize something greater is
going on and I'm turning my. Life to Jesus.
Old lives die in a new life of worship, because that's what
this guy did. That's what abandoned is.
It's faith. Gratitude expressed in worship.
Now today, instead of defining the word worship, we're going to
do that later in the series. I just want to show you what
worship looks like because though it can involve singing,
it is so much more than just singing.
The one man of the 10 is a great example of where we can see what
does worship look like. So I want to give to you how to
live abandoned. And what I really mean by that
is how to eject from the earthly culture and the earthly
citizenry and the earthly Prince of the power of the Prince of
the air, the God of this age, that all that leave it behind.
And how do I abandoned that and get over here and live in my
identity as a son or a daughter? Of the king How do I do it?
Number 14 Things abandoned the crowd.
Bye 9 went one day, one way. This dude went the other the
majority the crowd is headed on this away and one guy's like
something more important this. Way I'm leaving behind.
I'm abandoning the crowd and going over here.
It's interesting to note in the scriptures we read that God is
holy, holy, holy, holy. Holy means set apart.
Think about what that means. You got all of this over here
where everyone and everything else is.
All this big conglomeration, the majority of the popular, the
opinion, all of this stuff is here and God's over here.
And when this man decides to abandon the crowd, he's moving
from all of this and everything, and he's moving over here
through the blood of Jesus. He makes us holy, set apart.
And yet somehow we still live in the crowd.
We have the ability to stand over here with the Lord to be
set apart, to abandon the crowd, but we keep dangling over here
and all of this, and this man says I'm abandoning the crowd
and going this way. I wrote this down.
If you find yourself in the majority too often and what's
popular too often, you may be out of alignment with God.
Sometimes you're going to have to go against the flow, be
different, and it doesn't feel great at first.
Growing up, I was raised in the church.
Doors are open. We were there age 13.
I received Jesus as my Savior. Yesterday was my 39th spiritual
birthday. January 17th, 1987.
Hallelujah in youth group. President of my youth group,
whatever that means. Went to the University of
Florida, went to a Campus Crusade for Christ, now called
Crew, went to the Wesley Foundation.
Super involved in ministry. Seven days after I graduated, I
started my career in ministry. August 21st, 1995.
All I'm trying to say is like, I just been submerged in all this
Jesus stuff in the whole time. I'm in places where people are
not submerged in Jesus stuff. And I have had in my past this
grumbling in my spirit that I'm the oddball.
I'm the social leper, the nerd, the geek, the loser, the dork,
whatever where you want to put in there.
Internally, I'm thinking this because you're at, I mean, in
high school and college, you go to these functions and there's
drinking and cussing and all sorts of like things that the
crowd does and you're the one not doing it.
Hey, guys, Nope. No drinking for me.
No cussing, no carousing. I love Jesus.
That's not how it's playing out, but that's how I feel inside.
Like, oh man, you're one of those losers.
Everyone's looking at you weird and they said nobody likes you
and it doesn't feel good. It feels awkward.
Be a social leper. Then we get to celebration here.
And but that's when we moved to celebration.
And I, what is that, 2011? And I'm walking in amongst these
these guys at like football games and like going kids are
playing football or soccer or baseball, whatever.
And I'm like, they, they all know I'm the pastor.
And so again, I feel like this social leopard, like, oh,
there's the Jesus guy. And they're like the men.
We're men with football and baseball.
And I hey. I love Jesus.
It filled felt awkward to be abandoning the crowd.
Anyone ever felt this way? One day I remember where we
were. I remember how the sun was
shining. I'm laying on like a picnic
blanket watching soccer, and I'm having this conversation with
the Lord. Like all these guys are like
buddies and I'm like the Bible thumper over here and all this
is internal. I don't think that anybody
actually thought these. And maybe they did, who knows?
And I felt like the Lord zapped my spirit and essentially said
to me, hey, Tim, when you stand out like a star in the darkness,
when you swim against the current, go against the flow,
abandoned the crowd, it doesn't bug me.
It delights me. It's like, I think I actually
like being different. I think I actually like living
for your name and letting other people see the joy in my heart
because of Jesus. And so you enter into places
differently. Jesus is over here.
These guys are over there. Jesus.
Master, have pity on us, says Go show yourself to the priests.
They're like, all right, they start.
Obeying, they're walking. They're like John's like, Oh my
goodness, my hands coming back and Billy Bob's like my foot
feels good and Bocephus is like, I can feel my nose like they're
getting rid of leprosy in the moment it's happening like woo.
And they're all like yay. And one guy's like.
Wait a second, you did this? He begins to shout at God with a
loud voice and he says he throws himself at Jesus feet.
He abandons the crowd to worship his king.
When you abandoned the crowd, I'm talking about like you spend
your money different, you spend your time different, you behave
different, your heart, attitude, and your mindset is different.
When you enter a space, you're not just a person, you're an
ambassador for Jesus because you're abandoning the regular
ways of thinking and doing Americana because I'm no longer
a citizen of America. I mean, you are, you understand,
but my higher citizenry is a citizen of heaven.
I'm abandoning all of this. Do you understand what I'm
saying #2 abandoned the strikes against you.
Strike one, strike two. That's all it takes for this
guy. He doesn't even need to strike
three, he's out two strikes. Strike one, he's a leper.
Let's just have a little re affiliation with leprosy real
quick, right? Leprosy is in the Bible. 68 * 55
times in the Old Testament, 13 times in the New Testament.
Many people think of as a skin condition, but it's not.
It manifests in the skin typically, but it's actually a
neurological condition. Your nerves, you know how they
work. Nerves are all over your body.
A part of your body gets infected, let's say your finger.
It sends the nerves send a message to the brain.
The brain sends messages to the white blood cells.
White blood cells go to the fingers and super special magic
science stuff happens and all of a sudden your fingers healed.
And it all happens because the nerves send a message.
Put your hand on the stove. It's hot, right?
Nerves send message to brain. Brain sends message to you.
Move your hand, you idiot. Away you go.
Just like that in leprosy, this neural pathway breaks down, it
stops working as it should. So no messages are going from
broken or hurting or infected parts of the body to the brain
so that it can be healed. And so all of a sudden you look
down and your hand is sick and it's not getting healed.
It's infected, not getting healed.
They said in Jesus's time, maybe before and after too, that
people with leprosy, this is kind of gross.
So careful, rats would eat their feet and they wouldn't even know
it. There's no neural pathway to
tell them rats are eating your feet.
You just look down 1 moment, you're like, oh, they're having
dinner. Hey, I told you it was gross.
Yeah, In the Old Testament, leprosy is usually looked at in
regards to sin. But in the New Testament,
leprosy is more about separation, this group of people
isolated from their families, from their friends for the rest
of their lives. While leprosy won't kill you,
there's no cure for it then. And while leprosy won't kill you
and there's no cure for it then, it was supremely contagious.
So this is what would happen. You feel sick one day, maybe
your foot's tingly, and you go into the doctor, and the doctor
says it's leprosy. You'll never hug your mother
again. Immediately you're transferred
to what they called not a leper camp because camps.
You just go and set up a tent and then you go home.
But they called it a leper colony because that's where you
went to live for the rest of your life.
Separated from the rest of the world.
Isolation. That's all.
These ten men nude. You guys remember COVID and
quarantining? Yeah.
You. Somebody over here said it
right. They said we don't like that.
We don't like isolation and separation.
Unless you're an extreme introvert, you're like, this is
the best time of my life. The 10 lepers, because of their
social condition, their medical condition, were healed at a
distance and they could have stayed at a distance.
In fact, nine of them did. But one recognized this strike
no longer counts against me. And he went directly and threw
himself in close proximity to Jesus.
This strike doesn't count against me anymore.
It's as if he said my story of leprosy, my past no longer
counts against me. I'm drawing near to Jesus.
And many people in this room, you'll stay far from Jesus
because you're worried about the story of your past, your
leprosy, and you'll stay at a distance.
That's his first strike. Maybe yours #2 he was a
Samaritan. Remember, of the 10, he's the
one. Samaritan Jews and Samaritans
were bitter rivals, warring rivals like in West Side Story,
The Jets and the Sharks. You know what I'm talking about?
Like in LA, the Bloods and the Crips.
You know what I'm talking about. Like on Facebook in a political
season, the Democrats and the Republicans.
Gators in the Seminoles. Need I say more?
What do you even talk about? That other team that's playing
tomorrow night? Yeah.
Go Hoosiers. I really don't care.
I mean, good luck. Yeah.
I don't believe in luck anyway. This man should not be anywhere
near Jesus, is all I'm trying to say to you.
And yet he doesn't allow this strike against him to count.
He abandons this strike as well. And he approaches Jesus, showing
us physically what the apostle Paul writes in one of the most
famous chapters of all scripture, First Corinthians
chapter 13, the love chapter read at a lot of weddings.
In there it says that God, who is love, Love keeps no record of
wrongs. There's no strikes against you.
According to the love of God, which means in your mind you
have a list of all the strikes against you, your leprosy, your
heritage, whatever it is you see that list, I'm here to tell you
today based on the word of God, God does not see that list.
And if you want to release from this citizenry and move over
here to heaven, abandoned the list knowing this God in Christ
Jesus has already. Abandoned it for you.
It don't exist #3 Abandoned your concern for what others think of
you. It's time to get undignified.
That's what the man in our story does.
He is abandoned his concern for what others think of him because
this is now Jesus at age 33. This is the end of his life.
And in the last three years of his life, Jesus was growing and
growing in popularity, if you will.
Where Jesus went, crowds went 4000 got fed 5000 got fed the
the Sermon on the Mount the the mountain is.
Full of thousands of people listening to him.
Jesus is walking. There's so many people around
him that the woman has to touch the hem of his garment because
she can't get to Jesus. Jesus has so many people around
him in Luke chapter 19, just two chapters later, that Zacchaeus
has got to climb up in a tree just to see Jesus.
All I'm trying to say is while these 10 lepers are going
around, there's probably a lot of people around Jesus.
Lots of people are watching. And so this man suddenly says, I
got to thank Jesus, but that's a little embarrassing in front of
everybody. So I'm just going to stand and
be like, thanks dude, I love you.
This is me worshiping. He don't care what anybody
thinks, says he shouted in a loud voice, praising the Lord.
And then he walked over and the Scripture is the scripture.
Let's not make it make anything else than it is.
And it says he threw himself at Jesus's feet.
Can you see the scene? He's not just walking up and
timidly bowing down. He's running and jumping like
Pete Rose in the second base, right in front of Jesus and
worshipping him, not caring a world about what anybody thinks
because all he cares about is what Jesus sees.
Is this what our worship looks like on Sunday morning?
Sometimes I think that we don't respond to God correctly because
we don't remember what He's done for us.
We don't remember that what it cost him.
We don't remember how much we needed the gift, and so we don't
respond appropriately. You know what they call it when
somebody gives you a great gift and you don't respond
appropriately? Like if you were to give me
something great and I looked at him like and I just walked away.
You know what they call that spoiled?
Spoiled. I'm going to show you the
opposite of spoiled, a term. I call it careless praise,
meaning I don't care what other people think, I only care what
he thinks. And I don't want him to think
that I'm spoiled, that I've forsaken the gift that he's
given me in Jesus Christ, the blessings and the love forever
more, the blood of Jesus. So here's what I'm going to do
just on Sunday morning. You could, you could put this in
any context, but on Sunday morning, I'm going to get here
early because he's worth it. If I got to wake up 30 minutes
early, I'm getting here early. I want to be in my seat.
And when the first note gets played and these people walk out
because they're supposed to, like, encourage us to worship,
I'm already ready. I'm frothy.
I can't wait to sing. I pumped up the jams.
Remember we talked about that early in my car and I came
primed and ready, and as soon as that first note goes, you're
going to hear me singing in my loudest voice?
Like what does that matter? His loud voice matched his loud
desire to honor. It matched how much he wanted to
honor the Lord. Yes, sometimes there's times to
sing quietly and intimately with the Lord, and other times to let
the Lord know at full throat, You have saved my life and I
worship you. That's why they talk about a
roar in heaven. It's not a whisper, it's a roar.
Careless praise. This isn't a picture of a man
bumbling around like a maniac. This is a picture of a man
getting his posture right. He once stood for himself, now
he's kneeling for his king. That's what abandoned looks
like. That's what worship looks like.
When's the last time you worship like that?
Is he worth it? Is he worth it?
Here's the last one abandoned, the throne of your life.
Psalm 22, verse 3 says that he is enthroned on the praises of
His people. He being the Lord God, is
enthroned on the praises of His people.
I was praying to hear just on Friday.
I was over here on the right side looking back this way,
praying, and all of a sudden in my mind's eye, maybe by the
Spirit inspired me. I saw this gigantic golden
throne right here in the middle of the room, 4 legs going up the
armchairs. And then they're like a big back
going up, even out through the roof, ornate, beautiful, all
golden, but empty. And I just said, oh Lord, on
Sunday when we lift our voices as one, I can't wait to see you.
Sit down, right? There, right in Jesus name.
Can you see it? He's enthroned.
He sits upon the throne. Now you have a throne in your
heart as well. And most of the time, if you're
human, you're sitting there in that throne.
But as you're rejecting and leaving behind the earthly
citizenship and moving as a citizen of heaven, then you
recognize it's when I worship that He sits down on the throne
of my life. And when He sits down on the
throne of your life, here's what happens.
You're made well, so happy for the man you were made.
Well, as he worshipped and as we worship, how are we made?
Well, when the King of kings sits on the throne of your life,
what was out of order becomes an order.
What was broken becomes healed. What was stolen is returned.
They're coming back to worship with us.
I know you're all looking over there.
That's Club 56. Fifth and 6th graders.
Go ahead. Glad that you're here.
Now let me just wrap this up by saying this back here,
everybody. Those are just children.
No, you're not. You're fine.
Young men and women. I didn't mean to call you kids.
Forgive me. You're welcome.
You are welcome. This is how we abandoned our
lives. We lose our lives and find a new
life when we worship now we're going to define worship later,
but in in the series. But I just want to give you a
working idea what it looks like. God acts, we respond.
My voice got it gave out. Sorry there.
God acts, we respond. It's on the screen.
It's not on the screen. My bad.
God acts, we respond. First John chapter 4.
We love God because he first loved us.
He moved, and then we respond. We're going to spend a series
remembering how God moves next week.
I hope that you're here. I'm going to spend near the
entire message helping us all together.
Remember how much God loves us, how he moved first.
I hope that you leave next week feeling more loved by God than
you have in a very long time, just wrapped in a big hug of God
loved, loved, loved week after that week 3, then we're going to
learn what it means to respond. And there in week 3, we're
finally going to define what worship actually means.
This word, what does it look like?
What do we do? And then week 4, we're going to
answer this question, how can I finally be satisfied?
And the truth is, it's all going to go back to worship.
If you sit, you sit at the throne of God, you're not going
to hunger or thirst for anything else.
You will be satisfied in him. And then week 5, I'm so excited
about this. We're having a Mao.
Everyone say Mao. Mao means morning of worship.
I guess it could be MO, but it used to be a now a night of
worship. So it became a Mao.
February 15th, all morning long, worship.
And when you hear that, you hear, oh, we're going to sing
the whole time. Nope, we're going to worship the
whole time. There will be a lot of singing,
more than normal, but also lamentation.
Also silence. Learning what it means to come
in and to go out of the presence of the Lord properly.
Learning what praise means in the highest praise, what
Hallelujah means. You said that we're all what's
that mean? All of these things together,
worshiping, giving ourselves to the Lord and offering of
worship. I hope that you'll be here, but
today let's finish this way. Confession what I want you to do
not yet. I'll tell you when is to posture
yourself at the feet of Jesus, whatever that looks like for
you. If it's standing, stand.
If it's kneeling, kneel. If it's sitting, sit.
If it's coming to the altar, come to the altar.
If it's laying on the ground, lay on the altar.
If it's extending your hands, whatever it is for you to be
like this man who throws himself at the feet of Jesus just to
say. Thank you, I love you.
I'm going to tell you when to do that.
Are you ready? Say yes.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this
morning. Thank you for touching our
hearts and openness up to the Word and to the worship for your
sacrifice to us. God, we want to get into your
presence and posture ourselves before Jesus as the man with
leprosy did. So church right now, whatever
that looks like for you. Stand, sit, kneel, lay down,
come to the altar. Just posture yourself at his
feet. He's in the room.
He inhabits the praises of his people.
He is here with us. Posture yourself before him.
Don't care about what anyone else thinks.
Only care what he thinks and let's make these confessions
together. You don't have to repeat after
me but just in your heart some confession.
God, I confess that I've made the show about me and not about
you. I have been the center of my
attention and not you. Today I confess I'm a worship
you. Can see you seated on the throne
of my life. Is.
The king of my life, the center of everything.
God, I confess that I've been prideful.
I've been too worried what other people think of me.
So I haven't worshipped you properly.
I'm afraid to lift my voice, to lift my hands.
Why? My family's going to think I'm
weird. My Co workers are going to think
I lost my mind. God, I confess, I've been
prideful and I'm laying it down. I care what you think and nobody
else. Thanks for joining us today.
We hope God is speaking to your heart through this message.
If you'd like to connect with us, you can text connect to
407-588-0115 or visit Illuminate dot church.
Have a great week.