Matthew 21:31

Thank you, Pastor Matt. First off, I'm going to say I'm so glad to be here in front of you all today, with this opportunity, And I want to thank Pastor Matt and Hannah Rose for this opportunity, and more res- more importantly, this responsibility, and also just want to acknowledge that he is an amazing spiritual leader. So, if you guys don't know, get a chance. Yeah, Like amazing man, super humble, and he took this opportunity from that.

I'm good, I'll take it.

No, Oh, you don't need it. Look You sure. Yeah, Let's go. No, But no, honestly, like I said, I'm going to bring this up Like super, super humble, and poured into us And he took that upon himself to do that.

None of us asked for it, but he knew that was something that we needed to develop our what and go a little bit further. So just want to thank him for being obedient to the call of God on your life, because without that, like, we really wouldn't be here, And I honestly mean that. So, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lawrence. I'm part of the usher team.

I've probably sat a lot of you here at some point, hopefully most of you, but we've been attending Aubrey Church now for 2 years, with my beautiful wife, Courtney.

She runs around here with the camera. Who's Courtney? Runs around here with the camera, doing social media. So if you actually run into her, you might end up on our Instagram or Facebook or YouTube or something crazy.

My son, William, who serves in production, And, yeah, William, wherever he's at.

And then, of course, my son, Alexander Lex. Is in the back in kids And he is one of the most respectful, obedient, awesome kids back there. I'm speaking that over him, . But that's a little bit about us, a little bit about me.

We moved here in 2020, from Ohio.

Originally, We moved to the West Valley, but we were attending a church over in Queen Creek, which is on the East Valley about an hour away. So you have to catch a plane to get there. My wife was actually. We were driving there every single Sunday- about an hour drive there, and I wasn't driving, My wife was driving.

I would just go ahead and go to sleep.

I call it time traveling, cuz I just sleep at one moment and then 1 minute later I'm in Queen Creek. We were doing that every single Sunday. And that's where I was introduced to Pastor Matt. He was a guest speaker there and he was talking about how he was opening and planning a church in the West Valley called Orbit Church.

And I told Courtney.

I said: "This is an answer to our prayers", Cuz we had literally been praying to God and said: "Hey, we want something that's going to be in the West Valley that we can be a part of and get involved in, and not drive an hour away all the time". And I reached out to the Pastor Matt in October of '23 and told him: "Hey, I see you're planning a church. I'd love to be a part of it. You know what can I do".

He invited me out to their socials at the time before the church actually launched.

They had socials on Sunday at 5:00. I was working night shift. I had to go in at like 6:30, and I told him: "I can't make it. I have to be at work at 6:30.

", Which, if you really think about it, that's like an hour and a half. I probably could have made it, but I told him I couldn't do it, And it wasn't until Christmas Eve of 2023 that I actually met Pastor Matt in person at a Christmas Eve service And I came to him again and said, "Hey, how can I get involved?

How can I serve? What can I do" And he said: "Well, if you're working nights, can you be here at 5:00 am". I said, "Yeah, I can do that. I can be here at 5:00 am, help with set up".

And that's kind of how I got connected.

I wasn't always here at 5:00 am, I was sometimes like 5:15, 5:30, but that's kind of how I got connected to the church. So that's a little bit about me And, with that said, I'll go ahead and pray us in and then we'll get into the word. Father God, I just thank you for today. Father God, I just thank you for everyone here.

Father God, We just thank you that every seat that you have filled and every seat that you've yet to fill, Father, that we are just here to worship you, Father, We're here to just learn from you, Father, And I ask that you use me today, Father God, to speak something to the hearts of your people, Father, that it reaches their hearts.

Father, for the believer and the non-believer, They just take away something that you want them to hear and let it be all you. Father God, We just thank you and we ask this in your son, Jesus' name, Amen. So we are in our series called Facts And we're talking about some of those more like savage things that Jesus said in the Bible. That aren't those warm letters that we all love.

You know, It's not the warm and fuzzy like the hippy Jesus that you see, like in those Super Bowl commercials where they're like: "What would Jesus do", He would love, And I, I will say Jesus will love first.

Right, So I'm not taking that away, But these statements aren't those warm and fuzzy statements. It's funny. I actually work at Amazon and Amazon prides itself on getting deliveries to customers on time. It's their biggest thing about.

Like, "Hey, speed and accuracy, Can we get it for customers on time".

And they actually have a term. Especially with our servicemen and women who are overseas. During any kind of holiday season, we have a special term that we have for any package that we get to them late, Because if you have a military member of the family member overseas and they get their Christmas presents late, that is not a warm and fuzzy feeling, It's exactly opposite, and Amazon literally calls it cold and prickly. So these lines are kind of like cold and prickly lines that Jesus might say- And Jesus isn't cold and prickly, so you know I'm not saying that- But he is like more bold and convicting.

So these are like some bolder, convicting lines.

That's how I thought that was going to go over, but it's okay. I figured I couldn't let Pastor Matt be the only one up here making bad jokes, so throw it out there, . So what we're going to do, in all seriousness, we're going to go ahead and going to get in the word and the Scripture we're looking at today is Matthew 21, verse 31. So, if you have your Bibles or you have your phone, go ahead and open your Bible and turn to, Matthew 21, verse 31.

Specifically, we're going to look at the second half of that Scripture, and it starts where it says: "Verily, Jesus said to them, surely I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you".

And that was pretty bold. It's pretty bold, especially in the context of who he's talking to. At that time Jesus was actually speaking to the elders of the church and the religious leaders, the Pharisees- And for those who don't know, the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the church, and in the church we paint them as the villains of the Bible. We're like "Oh, these were the guys that led the charge to take Jesus to, to execution and kill him".

And they weren't great people, don't get me wrong.

But they weren't these monster villains that we turn them out to be, because they did love God. Like they thought they were doing the right thing, They were looking forward to the Messiah. But Jesus drops this line on them where he's like "Yeah, you guys think you're doing the right thing, right? Well, tax collectors and prostitutes are going to the kingdom of God ahead of you".

And that's bold and convicting when he says it to them.

And I sat there and I thought about it like man, it's a bold and convicting line. But like, why did Jesus say that line to them? Not so much of what he said, but why specifically tax collectors and prostitutes? Like I'm sure Jesus was hanging out with other sinners at the time and he could have used any other sinners that he was still hanging out with, But for some reason he said tax collectors and prostitutes.

And I'm sitting there thinking: as far as I can tell, they have nothing in common, So why would he use them?

And I'm just sitting there thinking there has to be something deeper than it. And anytime I'm in deep thought, I would blog all right in, or I'll type in now And I'll sit down and I'll start to title that entry literally whatever I'm doing at that time, And I always do this whenever I'm in deep thought. So I sat down and I said, "All right, Well, what I always do at this time. And then my squirrel brain start thinking about this Kanye West song and I just kept on typing the Kanye West song.

I'm going: "Like I always do at this time, I go for mine.

I got to shine". Like wait, Wait, Wait, Wait. In this context, on this stage, I don't have to go for mine, I don't have to shine. All I have to do is focus on God.

I focus on what God wants me to say.

So it's really funny. There's another line in the song: , so he says: "50 told me, go ahead and switch the style up". So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to switch the style up, Switch up the style of expectation, of affirmation, And I'm just going to focus wholly on what God wants me to say and be a vessel.

And that doesn't make me any better than anyone else out here Like this could be anyone on this stage doing this.

All it does is makes me a submission, Makes me a submitted vessel, Makes me submissive. And that's when it clicked. For a long time I had a submission problem. I was doing the things of God, I was coming to church, I was a Christian coming to church, I was tithe-ing, having community serving, But I was doing it out of a place of authority, not out of a place of submission, And there's a difference.

It's easy to confuse the two because they look so similar, right, And they are related to each other.

But you know, it's easy to look at that and say "Authority versus submission". Authority we can see everywhere. Authority is easy to see. We have bosses, our parents, routines, schedules, traffic laws.

Some of us are let our kids be our authorities when we shouldn't, but we let them do it.

But it's easy to see authority. But there's a difference between yielding to authority and submitting to it. There's that yellow light in traffic. You yield to that.

But also, when you're yielding, you just slow down.

You're still moving in the same direction. You're becoming aware, you're looking around, You're still just slowing down. Right, And I think a lot of us do that with our spiritual walk. We yield to God's authority but we don't actually submit to him, Because the red light that's submission.

You stop doing what you're doing and you wait for the new direction.

Which way you're going to go Could be going forward, could be left or right, But you wait for that new direction to go. And that's the difference between yielding and submission. And I sat there and I looked at this and in Matthew 21, . So often we look at our Bibles and we'll see like "Oh, it's a nice little paragraph, It's a nice little parable here" And we'll look at it and say, "This is one of the parables.

I'm going to read this parable".

But in Matthew 21, there's actually a theme of submission that's running through about three different passages here, but it's all taking place in one conversation. So in order to understand the context of Matthew 21, verse 31, you actually have to take a little bit. Look at three different passages right here in Matthew 21. Because historically this was all taking place at one time.

This is all one conversation that Jesus was having.

So we're going to go ahead and we're going to open up our Bibles again to Matthew 21, but this time we're going to start in verse 23. So verse 23 says: "Jesus entered the temple courts And while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and said: 'By what authority are you doing these things'. They asked: And who gave you this authority". Now there, it is right there.

When they came to the temple courts, they recognized Jesus' authority.

It says it right there. They said it twice to him: "Who gave you this authority and by what authority are you doing this". So they knew that he had authority. And the question they were asking really wasn't: who gave you the authority.

What they were really asking was: "Sir, why don't we have to submit to it".

They were looking for an out, And sometimes we do that in our walk. We come in, we question the pastor, we question the word, we question what God's telling us and we're like: "But what about this, What about that". I'm just looking for that out. And Jesus knew that.

He knew their hearts.

And he replied back in verse 30, 24, : "Let me ask you this. I will also ask you one question, And if you answer me, I'll tell you by whose authority I'm doing these things". "John's baptism: where did it come from? Was it of heaven or of human origin".

And again remind you, Jesus knew they weren't going to answer this.

So they all discussed it amongst themselves and they said: "If we say from heaven, he will ask: then why didn't you believe him". So again, right there it tells you that the religious leaders and the elders in the church, they knew they had a submission problem, They were very aware of it Because they said: "If he says this is from heaven, we didn't listen, We didn't submit". So they knew they had a problem. And then they go on to the very next verse, in 26.

It says: "But if we say of human origin, we're afraid of the people, for they will all hold.

They all hold that John as a prophet". And how often do we are trying to please people. That's why we don't want to walk on our full commitment, That's why we don't want to submit. Because we're trying to please people.

We're sitting like: "What will people think about me If I tell them I'm a Christian, if I actually confess to them, if I actually witness to them?

What will they think about me". And they were worried about what people were thinking. So then they finally answered Jesus and they just said: "We don't know". And Jesus wouldn't answer.

So then Jesus, of course, is like: "Well, neither will I answer you, Neither will I tell you by what authority I'm doing these things".

But Jesus is smooth. This is where we move into passage two of this section. Jesus says: "I'm not going to answer you, but I will answer you with a parable". And he goes into the parable of these two sons And he starts in verse 28.

"What do you think?

There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said: 'Son, go work today in the vineyard'. Verse 29, . 'I will not', he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing.

He answered: 'I will, sir' but he did not go. Now I picture this playing out, cuz I'm a dad and I just happen to have two sons. So I picture this whole thing playing out. And it probably went something like: "Hey, William, I need you to take out the trash".

And he's like: "Nah, I'm not taking out the trash, Dad, I got something to do.

I'm in the middle of my game right now. I can't pause my game. I'm in the middle of my game, I'm not doing it". Then he started walking away.

He got out of my sight and he sat there and he goes: "But wait a minute, My dad might take this game if I don't take out this trash".

So he changed his mind, he stopped, changed his posture, headed out to the vineyard, or in this case, headed out to take the trash out. And now the dad is sitting there, the father sitting there going. He doesn't know that the first son ended up going to the vineyard, cuz it says he later changed his mind. So he's probably thinking: "Man, that work still needs to get done in the vineyard.

Son didn't do it.

Go me, go to my second son". So he goes to his second son and he said: "Son, I'm going to need you to take the trash out, cuz William didn't do it". And the second son yielded to his dad's authority, cuz it's right there in the Bible. He said.

He answered him: "I will, sir".

There's that phrase: "Put some respect on my name". The second son put some respect on his dad's name. He called him "Sir". But then it also says he did not go.

So that second son and said: Lexion's going, they're going.

"Yes, sir, I'll take the trash out". And the Lexions kept on moving and Lex never even approached the trash can, And that's how I picture this whole thing going down. And then Jesus goes to the, the crowd, and he actually says to them- you know, this is in verse 31, - "So which of the two did what the father wanted". And they all replied: Come on church.

The first one, of course, the first one.

So this is when Jesus drops the mic on them And he says: "Truly, I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you". And they're probably sitting there going: "What? He just told this parable about vineyard and sons. And now he just comes with this line about tax collectors and prostitutes".

But now we go into passage three, So Jesus, and then we notice it's the same setting.

We notice the same passage because how it opens up in verse 33. He says: "Listen to another parable". So he's in the same setting. He's like: "Look, I just told you one parable, Now listen to another one".

And he says: "There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.

He put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place When- And this is verse 34, - "When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. In verse 35, the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another and stoned a third.

Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time.

Thank God for second chances, right? He sent more the second time And they treated the ten- the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, the landowner said he sent his son to them And he said: "They will respect my son". He said: And here's that thing about authority: They're yielding to authority.

But when the tenants saw him, they said to each other: "This is the heir".

They recognized his authority, They knew who he was, They yielded to it. But they didn't submit. They said: "This is the heir, Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance". So they took him, they threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him.

Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes- this is verse 40, - "What will he do to those tenants".

And verse 41 says: "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end" they said. They replied: "And he will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time". So now we're taking this whole conversation, all three passages, the passage about questioning his authority, them really not wanting to submit, the passage of the two sons, the parable of the two sons and the parable of the vineyard. And I'm looking at it and I'm going, "I got a parable about a vineyard here, a parable about a vineyard over here, and dab smack in the middle of it I got a line about tax collectors and prostitutes" And I'm like "What in the world does this have to do with these two bookends"?

Cuz, as far as I know, tax collectors and prostitutes don't work in vineyards.

I'm not a prostitute expert, but I'm pretty certain they don't work in vineyards. Maybe they did, do know, Maybe that's how they worked out back then. But I sit there going like "What is it right? What is it", And I just had the signature.

So I'm sitting there like "What is it, God?

Why did you use this analogy" And I realized there's some things that tax collectors and prostitutes actually do have in common, And there's three things I noticed. Number one: they submit to someone higher than themselves. They realize there's protection above them. It comes, You see.

So where else?

Tax collectors at this time were hated? Because they were rich. And the reason they were rich- not because they could collect taxes, The taxes they had to give to Rome. The reason they were rich is because they could charge whatever they wanted on top of the tax And they knew they had Roman protection and authority over them.

They knew that the Romans would protect them and then do whatever they wanted them to do, as long as they were collecting those taxes.

And the same thing with prostitutes. So prostitutes usually have someone that they report to above them- Call it a, say, a case manager. -huh, . The thing I just case manager- that they report to too.

They knew that they could rely on that person for a protection.

At the end of the day, if some John was acting crazy, they went to their case manager. They took care of them. And the second thing that they have in common is they both operate in limited ownership. They knew that what they had wasn't theirs.

Tax collectors collected taxes, but he knew, or they knew, that that belonged to Rome.

Everything they collected, majority of it, went to Rome. They got to keep some for themselves, but they knew it wasn't theirs. They weren't the owner of what they collected. The same thing with prostitutes.

Again, not an expert, but from what I've seen in documentaries and everything I've read: , .

They don't keep the majority of the money, The majority of the money that tax prostitutes collect. They actually have to turn in. They turn it in to someone else. So they both operate in limited ownership.

They're not full owners of what they have.

The third thing that they have in common is that they were both aware of their reputation and identity: Tax collectors, again, they were hated, right, And it's funny. A couple weeks back in our small group we were talking about the story of Zacchaeus and it talks about how Zacchaeus was a little short tax collector. He was rich and he climbed this tree. So we can get a better view of Jesus, right.

But if you actually read the word in the Scripture, it actually says that he ran ahead of the crowd to climb this tree And when I thought about it, I'm like he could have just paid his way.

He was rich. So if the crowd got there, he could have been like "Yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, here, let me to the front, Let me to the front, Let me to the front". Like, if I'm going to a concert and I want a front row, that's what I'm doing. I'm just going to pay for a more expensive ticket.

I'm not going to like beat the crowd there five days, stand in front just so I can sit in the front, so I don't have to pay for a ticket.

But I'm not buying front row tickets to concerts. If you guys ever see me doing that, somebody kick me and tell me I need to tie them more. But the time he ran ahead of the crowd. So Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd because he was aware of his reputation.

He knew that if the crowd got there it was not going to be a good time for him Trying to make it through that crowd.

He might not have made it through the crowd. So he was aware of his reputation. And Proverbs 6:26 says that when a man sleeps with a harlot or a prostitute, he's reduced to the crust of a loaf of bread. So their reputation was just crust of a loaf of bread.

So both of them were aware of their identity and they operated in their identity.

And then when I saw that, I said: "These three characteristics- I'm not condoning their behavior and their sin, but I'm looking at those three characteristics of them. It is a posture thing that God said 'I can use that posture'", Because if you look at the new tenants. They had a very similar posture. So the new tenants had these three things too.

Because in that vineyard I believe that nothing in the Bible is in here for an accident And if you really think about historical context of it, here's proof that nothing in here is an accident.

The Bible was written on papyrus at the time, and back then not everybody had paper like we do. So nothing that was in the Bible that was written and was transcribed was written for an accident. They didn't write it just to add color. Every single thing that was added was added for an intention and for a specific reason.

So in the parable of the tenants, when it says in the first verse that he built this and put the wine press in it and then built a watchtower, I thought, "What is it about a watchtower"?

It was there for protection of the vineyard. It was there to look over the vineyard. So the new tenants submitted to that watchtower. Why do we know that?

Because they don't even mention it when it talks about the new tenants.

So we knew that they were just. It was just there and they were just mindful of the fact it was there and they just relied on it. But we know that the old tenants weren't. You know, the old tenants did not submit to that watchtower because every single time they saw servants coming they're like "Threat, Threat, Threat, Let's take them out, Let's do it, Let's take them out".

They didn't rely on the protector and the watchtower.

The second thing that the new tenants did is they realized they didn't own the vineyard. The old tenants said: "This is ours, All of this is ours, The harvest is ours, The vineyard is ours. Here comes the son. He's the heir.

We're going to kill him and take his inheritance.

This is ours, We're the owners". But the new tenants operated in limited ownership. They said: "You know what This belongs? His share belongs to God.

We're going to give his share to him".

Lastly, the new tenants operated and lived in their identity. And the reason we know that is because they were farmers and they were And they, they were farmers. But the first set again, if you look at the old tenants, they weren't operating with farmers. If I'm reading Old MacDonald to one of my sons- and they're maybe a little bit older than he is now- but if I'm reading Old MacDonald to them and I'm sitting there, "Old MacDonald had a farm and he had a leather jacket on and he was walking around with a baseball bat with barbwire on it" That's not a farmer, That's Negan from Walking Dead.

And that's not how the first guys were acting.

The first tenants were acting like thugs and murderers Because every single time someone came, they killed them, they stole them and beat them up. They weren't acting like farmers, So they weren't walking in their true identity. And at the very beginning here I told you that I had a submission problem. And I told you I wasn't attending attend a social when I probably could have.

I wasn't getting here for set up one times when I could have.

But I was doing these same three things like the old tenants. I thought to myself: I got to work, I got to provide. I don't really need to rely on someone in the ward staring looking out for you. I'm going to rely on my God.

I was a Christian, but I wasn't walking in submission, I was walking in authority, like "Oh, yeah, I'll be there when I get there".

Which kind of led me to my second problem. Second problem was I thought I was an owner, I thought it was my time, Because I'm like "Yeah, I'll get there when I get there". You know, you know they should be happy I showed up there at all. I'll get there when I show up.

It's not my time, Like.

None of this belongs to us. We're not owners. But I was acting like an owner. And again, thank God for second chances, right, Cuz what I didn't tell you is that at the very beginning of that story, when I introduced myself, when I was praying with my wife- and literally we sat and we prayed- We said "Okay, God, like, please, bring someone to the West Valley that's going to plant a church that we can attend and be a part of.

We're driving an hour away to RockPoint And 3 minutes from my house in Goodyear, a plant- church plant- starts.

We got a plant to church and he's from Ohio, of all things right. So, like, if this isn't God giving you a sign, I don't know what is. But God answered that prayer and brought someone 3 minutes away from my house planting a church in the West Valley. And then God spoke to me and said: "Yeah, here you go, There's an answer to your prayers".

And we attended, Didn't submit.

I wasn't recognizing the authority of God, Didn't talk to anybody there, Didn't introduce myself to anybody there, Didn't get involved. But thank God for second chances, I heard God vividly tell me when I reached out to Pastor Matt in October. He said: "I'm giving you a second chance. You think this time is your time.

I told you what to do back in July.

You didn't listen to me, You didn't submit to me". And he told me he's like: "You think your time is your time? You don't own anything And if you don't use that time the way I gave it to you, I'll take it from you And you don't need it". Goosebumps right.

Which is God tells you to do something you need to submit.

So that third thing was I wasn't walking in my true identity Because, yeah, I was a Christian. I've been a Christian since I was probably 8 years old. But Paul says that I am a servant of Christ And I wasn't walking in that. I was walking like I was an owner, like I was the provider, didn't need a watchtower, I wasn't being a servant.

And it says that in Christ I am a new creation And I was still acting like the old man.

I didn't turn over and put on the new. And that's walking in our true identity as Christ for Christ. And again, when I look back at the tax collectors and prostitutes and that heart posture that they had just inherently in them, just because of the way they operated. It set them up to be in a place of repentance like the first son.

If you look at it in verse 32, so we're going to go to Matthew 21:32, it says: "For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, But the tax collectors and prostitutes did.

And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe". And what's really interesting is in the King James version and New King James version, it actually reads this way: It says: "For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and harlots believed him". And when? What?

Then you saw it.

You did not ask the word relent and believe him. And that word relent has a different meaning than repent. That word relent means to stop And specifically, it actually is to stop after being stubborn to something. So how do we?

We have to stop being stubborn to diseeing God's authority and start to submit to God.

We have to see that stop light and that red light and say: "All right, you know what, I want to stop doing it my way and I'm going to walk in the direction that God told me to go. I need to surrender and move in a new direction". And that's what we- we do here. So, like, how do we take this and how do we become like the new tenants?

And that's the challenge, right?

So the very first thing is we have to recognize our protector. We have to recognize that God is our provider and that he's in the watchtower looking for us and we don't have to do anything, We don't have to worry about going to work. Yeah, we have jobs, We have responsibilities, Absolutely, But we should never prioritize that over the kingdom. Number two, we have to realize again: we don't own anything.

All this, everything that God has created, that's here, that man's done, it's all God's, It all belongs to him.

We don't own our gifts, we don't own our talent, we don't own our time, we don't own our money. None of it, All of it belongs to him. And we have to be like those new tenants who said, "You know what? I'm going to give my share to him, I'm going to give everything I have I'm going to give to him", Like those new tenants.

Third, we have to walk in our identity.

There is an identity problem in the world, Not just in America. In the world, People are struggling, people are hurting, people don't know who they are. They're trying to find themselves. They talk about "Oh, just go out there and you'll find yourself".

You're not the architect of your life.

You are not the one who can self-make yourself. You didn't. You didn't birth yourself. So what makes you think you can make your own identity going forward?

Our identity is in Christ, Right, And that's who we have to align ourselves with.

That And that's how we enter the kingdom And that's how we can become repentant and submit and stop doing it our way and start doing it God's way. And that is an invitation that I want to extend to everyone here today, Because so often we're able to identify authority, and we do that with God, but we slow down around him. We come to church, We say, "You know what I listen to? I listen to pastor preach on Sunday.

I'm good for the week".

I'm aware, but we never actually submit it. And you can see it. You're just like you're driving. You see, Imagine that scene: You're driving and on the road you see that big yield sign spray painted on the road and you're just like, "Yep, All right, I need to yield".

Still going my direction, slowing down.

I'm aware, know what's going on, What you never did. You never looked up. I saw that stop sign. And that's what we need to do.

We need to look up to God.

For that stop sign, Say: "Hey God, how do I submit to you? What do I do to submit to you? And, more importantly, I didn't write this and I didn't prepare this, but God spoke to me and said: "More importantly, in verse 32, it said: John came to show the way of righteousness and you did not listen to him". God sets a servant here for you to listen to, In the local church.

It is important and it is vital that you listen to that servant that God has given, And we don't want to submit to that servant.

We want to sit there and try to find a way where we don't have to submit. Oh, he, he teaches this. He teaches that the church doesn't believe in this. You're called to be here.

That's your identity in Christ.

It's to be here in community. So anyone here who feels that way, whether you're a believer or whether you're not a believer, I invite you today to say: "You know what, God, I'm tired of doing it my way. I'm ready to submit to you and to your servant. I'm ready to stop yielding to your authority and submit to your authority".

And if that's you, I invite you to repeat this prayer after me.

And the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you'll be saved. So, with every head bowed and every eye closed, I'd ask you to repeat after me. That's you? I said, whether you're a believer or non-believer.

Jesus right now, repeat after me.

Repeat after me. Jesus now, I just ask you into my life. I ask you to be the Lord and savior of my life and I commit to submitting to you And I just thank you that you died for me And rose again for my sins, And I thank you now That I am a new creature And I'm a new creation. In Jesus name, Amen, Welcome to the kingdom of God.